Let's Play a Game
by ShadowArchon456
Summary: Gaia has finally noticed she has a bit of a Worm problem. She decides the best cure is Taylor Hebert. With the power of the Gamer, Taylor won't just be escalating in fights. She'll be escalating in all facets of her life. Brockton Bay and Earth Bet, I hope you're ready, because Taylor wants to play a game.
1. Chapter 1

Let's Play a Game - Chapter 1

I stared at the ceiling of my bedroom while a complex menagerie of feelings churned through me. I was angry, sad, frustrated, and depressed. I've been lying on my bed for hours now; too lethargic and emotionally drained to do…anything really.

It had been two weeks since the locker and a week since I left the hospital. _Luckily_ , I had only a minor infection from the fucking toxic waste I was covered in. The bigger concerns were the heart arrhythmia and the mental breakdown, but after some observation and a near trip to the psych ward, I was discharged without any issues.

Winslow paid for the hospital visit and not much else. Dad and I just couldn't afford to do anything else. The police weren't even investigating anymore. I only caught half the rant from Dad on the house phone, but apparently Winslow's administration _convinced_ the police that it was just a prank gone wrong, and no one saw who pushed poor Ms. Hebert into her locker. Fucking figures.

I…still haven't told him the specifics, but I know it won't change a damn thing if I do. My word against theirs, like always. If not a single one of the dozens of students who saw Sophia fucking Hess push me into that fucking locker said anything yet, they weren't going to all of a sudden do it now if I said anything.

And without any hard evidence like that, the police won't be able to do anything. I closed my eyes tightly, as angry hot tears start to spill. Not to mention Emma shitty Barnes has her own lawyer dad to help her there too if it even gets that far.

There's no winning here is there? I was going to be stronger than them. I was going to weather everything they shot at me and carry on... but I don't think I can do it anymore. They've won. I've lost, and god do I feel broken for admitting that even to myself.

Who am I fucking kidding… They almost killed me and no one but Dad seems to give a fuck. If the janitor didn't let me out at the end of the day, apparently after I had passed out, would I have been there all night? Would I have gotten toxic shock or have had a heart attack? And even if I did die…would they still weasel their way out like they always fucking do?

I start breathing faster and faster. No, fucking no. I'm not going back to that hell hole. I physically can't do this shit anymore. They'll just fucking escalate and escalate until I'm dead, won't they? Until one of their pranks does it or they finally drive me to do it myself… And god, how fucking messed up is my life that the second option there sounds even the slightest bit appealing.

Dad's got a box knife in his tools in the house somewhere. Just a little pressure on the wrist, and no more fucking Winslow, no more fucking bullies, and no more fucking worthless piece of shit Taylor Hebert. No more pain… I'm outright sobbing now, feeling a sense of gratitude that Dad's out at work right now. Really, a single knife stroke and all my problems would be gone…

I shake my head. No…I can't do that… Even if Dad's practically shambling through life right now as a robot after Mom's death, and even if I kind of resent him for just…shutting down like he has, I couldn't do that to him. If Mom's death affected him this badly…mine would end him for good…and I still love him even if he hasn't been around like he should…

I…I…

I don't know what to do… Oh, god, what am I going to do? I… My mind blanked. Time passed as I wept. Eventually, I cried myself to sleep.

* * *

 **You've rested in your own bed. Your HP and MP have been restored to full and all status effects have been removed.**

I blink. I blink again. I blink a third time. Nope…the hallucination is still there… Am I dreaming?

I raise a hand to my face. Nope, my face is still a bit wet from the monsoon of tears…and yes, there's still a rather large amount of snot running down my nose. I pinch my cheek. Ow. Well, that's that. I should really clean myself up in a few minutes…but first things first. I reach my hands toward the floating blue box... and I feel resistance.

My eyes widen. I turn my head slowly towards my clock. Six-Thirty PM.

Ooookay; that means I've been asleep for about two hours now, Dad's going to be home soon…so I should probably start dinner. Huh, I haven't fixed any food for dad in a while and I should real- Wait. I shake my head back and forth rapidly. WaitWaitWait…

Wait a minute here. Something's off. I stare back at the message that may or may not be a hallucination. Unless I developed a mental disorder in the last few hours, it's probably not. I quickly run through my memories of my thoughts before my nap, and wow were they dark…

Geez, I was actually thinking of suicide there for a minute, and now…I'm…not… I feel…content actually. Sure, there's still anger and frustration, but not enough to distract my thoughts…and the sadness is only slightly there. Those feelings are just kind of…muted. Most importantly, I don't feel depressed at all anymore…

I read the blue box again. While poking it...and yup, still feeling a thing there… Okay, so if this isn't a hallucination…and I'm not dreaming…then that must mean…

"Depression's a status effect?"

My eyes widen, as the full conclusion finally gets into my head.

"I have super powers! I'm a cape!"


	2. Chapter 2

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 2

" _I have super powers! I'm a cape!"_

As soon as I said those words, I leapt straight out of my bed in sheer excitement. As my mouth began to turn upwards into a big smile, a giggle bubbled out of my throat. "I'm a cape…" Then, a chuckle slipped out. "I'm a cape." Soon I was completely bent over laughing harder then I had in years, joyful tears making my face wet again. "I'm a cape!"

I spend a few minutes standing there, basking in happy emotions I thought I'd never feel again. Just when I thought life couldn't get any worse, I finally have hope again.

I wipe away some of the happy tears from my eyes. I can't even remember the last time I cried happy tears…

…I really need to clean myself up in a bit.

Alright, that's enough revelry…for now. I'm a cape. I have powers.

Now…what exactly are they?

I stare at the blue box still floating in front of me. I raise an eyebrow as I reread it. I take a step back. The box follows.

I nod slightly to myself. The box is clearly about me; of course it's going to be centered on me since it's my power.

Okay, but what about HP, MP, and status effects? That's clearly gaming jargon…

Not that I'm much of a gamer. I did play some video games years ago, but that was back before the bullying, and generally, I just played games with Emma rather than anything on my own.

So…my powers have to do something with gaming? That's…weird. It's not the flashy Alexandria package of my childhood dreams, but it is…well, interesting.

Alright, let's figure this out.

I walk over towards my desk, my little blue floating box following me, and sit down. I noticed the X in the corner a while back, but I don't want to close out the box just yet.

Grabbing a nearby notepad, one that is not filled to the brim with a chronological archive of the Trio's greatest hits, and a pencil, I begin copying down the little message that has just changed my life irrevocably.

Once done, I turn towards the box once more tapping my pencil's eraser against my chin. Slowly, I reach towards the box, and poke it. Then I poke it with my pencil. My pencil goes straight through it like it's not even there.

I raise my eyebrows.

I keep my pencil halfway through the box, and then place my hand on it.

Okay, so presumably, only I can touch the box. I'll need to see if anyone else can touch it, but I assume they'll act just like the pencil did for now.

I take a deep breath and finally push the X in the corner. With no fanfare, the box pops out of existence just like closing a window on a computer.

I swivel in my old office chair back towards the notepad. Given the vernacular, at least no can tell I'm talking about my powers here. That's a plus.

I begin writing some notes.

So, HP obviously means health points, MP stands for magic points, and status effects are self-evident.

…Status effects also possibly include mental conditions, like the depression I had earlier that just went poof. I chuckle. Apparently, my naps are now anti-depressants.

The question is what else constitutes a status effect?

I'll need to do some research on what status effects are common in most games. If it's anything like what my mind is jumping to…that's…wow.

If status effects include diseases then any time I sleep, I'll be 100% healthy in the morning. If HP is talking about my health, then that could include any injuries as well…

I'll wonder about my MP later, because being 100% healthy after a nap alone is amazing all by itself.

It does specify "my own bed" though, so I'll need to check and see if sleeping on Dad's bed or on the couch gives me the same message and presumably same effect.

Even still…the first thing I know about my power specifically is my bed is literally my own personal Panacea. That also does brains.

Not exactly an orthodox self-healing ability, but it sure fits the theme I have here.

Moving on from the healing aspect, I "have" HP and MP.

So if my health has a quantifiable meter…where is it?

I'm guessing that information is in another floating box, so I just have to do something to make the one that has my health information pops up.

How do I do that?

From all of the interviews of capes I've seen, there's suppose to be something like a new sense or a switch you can feel in your head to work your power, and you're kind of suppose to almost know that said sense or switch is there…

For me though, I don't feel that switch or sense. I just feel…normal. Sure, I feel great health wise, normal aches and pains are simply gone, and I also feel better emotionally then I have in a long time, but I don't feel…a power.

I scratch my head.

I know I've got powers…I just don't know how to work it yet. Just thinking that the box with my health bar should appear isn't doing anything.

I check the time. Dad's going to be home in about the next half hour, and he probably would like it if dinner was ready for him.

 **Quest Alert:  
Cooking Dinner**  
The Gamer's father will be home soon. Let's surprise him with a hot meal!

 **Time limit:** 34 minutes  
 **Reward:** +500 EXP, Increased closeness with father  
 **Failure Penalty:** Microwaved Leftovers.

I blink.

Well, I wanted a box to appear in front of me. Two birds with one stone: I can cook dinner for Dad and continue experimenting with my powers. I'll figure how to get the box I want to appear later.

Before I head downstairs, I make a quick stop in the bathroom to wash up. Just a few splashes of water and a dab of my towel should be good enough for my tear and snot stained face.

I do a final look over in the mirror.

My eyes widen. I forgot something that's been second nature to me for most of my entire life in all my excitement.

In the mirror, there's the clear reflection of myself…sans glasses.

"Nearsighted is a status-effect too!?"

I can't stop the smile that's slowly creeping on my face. Note to self, my powers give me the _best_ naps.

"Well, if I ever go blind or lose an arm, I can always just take a nap…"

I let out a small laugh.

Then I frown.

Now…what do I do?

Should I just go make dinner and let Dad see me without my glasses as a lead-in to "Hey, Dad, guess who woke up with super powers today? This girl!"

Knowing how…overprotective he's been lately since the locker, he'd probably want me to join the Wards…

Not that I really know all about what I can do.

I really doubt I can make a cape career out of super sleeping powers alone. ' _Oh villains, tremble before the might of nap girl!_ '

No, I'd rather have a clear idea on exactly what I can do before I tell him, and I'd rather not trade one teenage hell for another before I even figure out how my powers work.

So, what do I do?

The timer for that…quest is ticking down so I need to be quick.

I don't have any contact lenses. I was never really comfortable with them, and Dad knows that. An excuse like that won't fly, not to mention I'd be flat-out lying. I've been lying about the bullies for over a year now, and I don't want to start lying to him about my powers.

Obfuscating the truth a little…sure, but not lying.

I guess I could just grab my glasses and put them on when he gets home?

Not exactly the best plan, but what else can I do?

With a frustrated sigh, I grab my glasses from my room.

Alright, let's see how blurry the world looks….with my glasses.

Today is officially the weirdest day of my life…

Just holding them up to my eyes, I can make up how blurry everything looks through them. With a sigh, I slide them on.

Immediately, the lens clear up and I see just fine…

"What?"

I slide the glasses off my face slightly. Just a few inches forward and the world through the lens is once again a blurry mess.

"…What?"

I slide them back on. Clear.

I slide them off. Blurry.

Clear. Blurry. Clear. Blurry. Clear.

My hands drop to my side.

Okay, floating blue boxes and naps that cure pretty much everything are one thing powers, but…glasses that conform to my eyesight? Really?

I shake my head. Whatever, problem solved.

I should have taken the hint to begin with that my powers follow not only a game theme but also the logic of a game as well.

I guess there's precedent.

If something as simple as sleeping in my own bed heals me, then there must be games with similar mechanics where characters can also just pick up glasses anywhere and wear them without a problem regardless of how little that makes sense in reality. Heck, it shouldn't be limited just to glasses either. Any clothes or shoes might auto-fit me now as well! My life isn't governed strictly by reality anymore; it's governed by the absurdity of game mechanics!

 **For a solid and correct deduction, your Intelligence has increased by 1.**

"…Did my powers just make me smarter?"

…You know what, I'll make dinner first. I'll…deal with this…later.

* * *

Aaaand done.

Another blue box pops up.

 **A skill has been created through a special action.**

 **Through the use of culinary arts, a skill to create food, "Cooking", has been created!**

I slowly close out the box in mild shock, as I feel knowledge accumulate in my head out of thin air: all of it about the basics about cooking. I now know how to make stock, the correct method on cutting numerous vegetables, the specific wrist motion in whisking, and more.

Just by making a simple dinner that anyone can do, my brain now has knowledge that for all intents and purposes came out of nowhere on the basics of how to be a proper cook…

I even know a few dozen simple recipes now off the top of my head. Sure, its simple things like a nice soup or what's the best seasoning for a good BLT sandwich, but they are things I _didn't know_ _at all five minutes ago._

If this is something that happens from just trying to cook…what other skills can I create?

While still shocked, I'm calm enough to look at a new red box that has replaced the old blue one.

 **[Cooking (passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.00%]**

 **A skill using ingredients to create food.  
With more mastery, the quality of food created will increase  
while the chance of failure will decrease. The higher the quality,  
the more bonuses food items grant.  
5% increase in HP and/or MP restored by food personally cooked. **

I stare at the box with wide eyes.

Food I cook restores my HP and MP just like sleeping in my bed…

I can heal myself by just eating food…

I turn towards the quickly made dinner of pasta, green beans, and bread rolls. It's laughable how simple the meal is in comparison to what it just did for me power wise.

The sound of a car pulling into the drive way pulls me away from my thoughts: Dad's home.


	3. Chapter 3

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 3

As I finished setting the plates, I heard the front door unlock.

I see my Dad walk through, clearly tired. Above his head, I see blue words, floating just like my boxes.

 **(DU Head of Hiring)  
LV 20 Danny Hebert**

I blink as a new facet of my power rears its head. On one hand, I never have to worry about forgetting someone's name. On the other, I have to remember if I've been introduced to them before I call them by it…

Also…levels…

If there were any doubts before, they're gone now. My powers are based off RPGs…I think.

Thanks Greg for your many, _many_ unsolicited lectures on video games.

…I never thought I'd mean that unironically. Again, this is the weirdest day _ever_.

Well, I have a starting point for my research.

"Hi Dad! Dinner's ready!"

His head jerks towards me in surprise, shaken out of whatever he was thinking about. He must have thought I'd still be in my room. To be fair, I haven't spent much time out of it after the hospital. I see confusion on his face for just a second, before he begins to smile weakly, but I can still see a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Taylor, you didn't have to do that. I should be making dinner for you. You're still recovering."

I smile slightly. "Well, I felt better today and finally stopped moping around. I knew you'd be home soon and I didn't want you to worry about dinner." I frown. "Sorry it's not lasagna. After my nap I didn't have the time for it to be ready when you got home. I'll make the lasagna tomorrow night, I promise."

My dad raises one hand. "Kiddo, relax. I'm happy to have any hot dinner you make me." His smile ticks down slightly. "Are you sure though? It's only been a week since…" He pauses for just an uncomfortable moment too long. "I don't want you to overexert yourself."

"Dad, believe me, I'm not overexerting myself right now." I smirk just a little. "I'm making pasta in our kitchen, not climbing a mountain."

He sighs and looks down. "I'm just worried about you. Just thinking about it…" I can hear the sadness, the residual anger, and…guilt in his voice. His hands tighten into fists.

Yeah, Dad's still bent out of shape from the locker incident. So was I a few hours ago...until I napped the dark thoughts away. Thinking about it now makes me queasy along with a host of other emotions. However, now there's clarity, and none of the feelings are anywhere near to the overwhelming extent they used to be. I know now it can really only get to me if I let it.

…Is this what it feels like to be on anti-depressants? Whatever.

Dad kind of went on the warpath while I was in the hospital, but considering what snippets I heard now and then when he thought I wasn't listening both here and from the hospital, it didn't amount to much.

Is he blaming himself for what happened to me?

I stare at him, trying to understand exactly what's going on in that balding head of his.

Suddenly a blue box cuts off my vision, and my eyes widen in panic.

' _Shit! Shit! Shit!'_

Before my hand even reaches half way to close the box, Dad looks up and at me. As I try to focus on him, the box goes completely transparent, and almost invisible. I can only see the vague impression of a floating square now that I'm not focusing on it. No way did it turn barely invisible until after he saw it though. Crap. I can't really read his expression, but I can see his fists slowly loosen.

I inwardly wince, and lower my arm. _'Well…the cat's out of the bag…'_

I look down to the floor. I open my mouth with a sharp inhale. What do I say? What can I say? He's already worried as it is. Well, I wanted boxes to appear, here's one now! I should have thought about this before. Can I even have a secret identity if boxes like this pop up all the time? Fuck.

Before I can say anything, my dad sighs. "Let's eat dinner before it gets cold, okay?"

He then walks right past me without saying anything about floating boxes.

My mouth clicks audibly shut.

' _And the cat has just walked right back into the bag.'_

I briefly pause, and then shrug. 'W _hat the hell, I'll roll with it...'_

In annoyance, I glare at the box that almost gave me a panic attack; it suddenly becomes opaque once more.

 **A skill has been created through a special action.**

 **Through constant observation, a skill to discern information from a target, 'Observe', has been created!**

…okay then. I close it, and a red box takes its place. Unlike before, there's no large sudden influx of information. There is however a sense of how to use this particular skill…by saying the word 'observe' while looking at whatever I want to observe.

Weird power is weird.

Quickly, I skim the new box.

 **[Observe (active) Lv1 EXP: 0.00%]**

 **A skill using observation to learn about a target.  
With more mastery, more information is provided.  
Currently provides information on the following:  
HP, MP, and a very brief background. **

"Taylor? Are you alright?"

I hit the X quickly to close it out and turn towards my dad. I murmur a quiet "I'm fine" before walking to the dining table, and taking a seat.

At least now I know I'm the only one who can see them. Having a secret identity is still an option.

Another box pops into view. I see dad looking down at his plate. As sneakily as I can, and hoping it works, I swipe the box to my right. I let out the small breath I'm holding when Dad doesn't notice what I did and when the box slides to my right side.

I'll deal with the boxes later. Given how my new skill likely works, I'd be dealing with a new box every time I "observed" something. The only excuse I can think of that wouldn't out my powers to Dad if he saw me poking and reading something that's not there is me needing that trip to the psych ward after all. He might not notice me do it once or twice, but if I do it a few times he definitely will.

It is tempting to observe Dad, but I better not risk it. Especially if he thinks I'm spacing out on him or something. Besides, it's still at level one. I don't think what I want to know from him can be conveyed in a "very brief background." It's not like I can ask him without it eventually leading towards "Why haven't you told me who your bullies are Taylor?"

Slowly, I dig into my own food slightly frustrated. Neither of us talks. I can almost feel the awkwardness between us as if it were a physical force.

After Mom, we've been distant from each other, both of us dealing with the grief in our own ways.

Given the argument Dad had with Mom right before she left the house for the very last time, I always knew Dad blamed himself for Mom's death. I blamed myself a little since it was me she was trying to call while she was driving.

That was a sad fact about Mom's death. She didn't survive, but her phone did somehow. So we knew she was trying to call Emma's house when I left earlier that day to get away from the argument.

I think we both knew that about each other…how we blamed ourselves for her passing…but we never really went out of our way to talk about it.

And after Mom's death and the bullying started, we haven't really talked much at all beyond simple platitudes.

I feel bad just saying it, but I know Mom's death affected Dad more than it did me. It took her death, a best friend that was practically a sister's betrayal, and a year and a half bullying campaign to tear me down to where I am. Even before today, Dad was worse off than me.

With Dad, a large part of him just died when Mom did, and what's left is his still shambling corpse.

I still catch him now and then, when he's not thinking, try and call out for Mom before seeing him crumple and crestfallen when he remembers. It's like no matter how many times it looks like he's going to get better, those moments just come along and tear him back down all over again in a horrible loop.

Even if Mom's death left this big aching hole in our family, that even now hasn't healed, we still loved each other, regardless of what dark emotions festered due to the pain we went through.

I…may resent him slightly for wallowing in his grief while I dealt with the hell at Winslow, but was that really fair of me? I'm the one who didn't want to _worry_ him about it while I "dealt" with it. I still haven't told him about who the bullies were even after what I went through, and I know how deeply he cares due to how angry I saw him on my behalf.

He's been more alive in the past week out of sheer anger than he has been in the last six months.

If I told him sooner, even about Emma's part in it, how much would the situation have changed? Would he have woken up sooner out of his depressed daze? Would he try to fix things? Would Dad confronting Emma's parents or the school earlier on have changed anything? Would I have my Dad back?

I sigh inwardly. Even if it didn't change what happened at Winslow, we'd probably have a better relationship then we do now…

The gulf between us is just as much as my fault as it is his. Even if he failed at being the best father he could be after Mom's death due to grief, if I wanted us to have a healthier relationship that didn't get mired in all of the negativity in our lives, I had to do my part to fix it. I couldn't just expect him to get better on his own. I had to help.

 **For an accurate introspection, your Wisdom has increased by 1.**

I barely manage to stifle a laugh trying to bubble out of my throat. So my powers can even make me wiser, huh? It's nice to know my powers seem to even help me in situations like this.

Again, with Dad mostly just staring at his plate, I close out the box without him noticing

Well, it's got to start somewhere. I may not feel comfortable talking to him about my powers or who the bullies are just yet, but I can start with something small, and work my way up.

Which in hindsight, is just like how my powers seem to work.

"So, Dad, how was work?"

He looked up from his plate, with a confused expression for a few seconds. Slowly, he spoke. "You sure you want to hear about that? I'm pretty sure it would just bore you…"

"I don't think it will. I'd like to hear how your day's been. Look, I'll start. I took a few naps, felt better than I did earlier, then I made dinner, and sat down to eat with my Dad while I asked him how his day was." I smirk. "Now it's your turn."

He smiled and then let out a small chuckle. "Alright, but I warned you. This morning there was an issue with…"

* * *

Okay, so Dad was right. It was a little boring. Just a minor problem with too much stock being delivered at a full warehouse Medhall was renting from the DWU. Someone higher-up at Medhall had apparently screwed up some math and sent one too many trucks.

Even if it was boring, it was nice having Dad talk to me about it. Mom may have had a monopoly on funny anecdotes, especially the Ramen Episode in her English 305 class, but hearing him talk about it and really get into it reminded me how much passion he had about the union.

Dad really cared about the people he hired and managed over there.

After he finished talking about his day, the conversation moved from there to subjects of little consequence. Safe topics that we were comfortable with. It was…nice. Not a massive improvement, but still better than our normal dinners.

Once dinner was finished, he seemed to be in a much better mood.

He pretty much forced me out of the kitchen and told me in no uncertain terms he'd take care of it.

Well, I guess I'll pick up a dish washing skill later…

I snicker. My power's weird but I doubt something as mundane as that will count as a skill.

Back in my room, I take time to read the box I swiped over from dinner as I sit down at my desk.

 **Quest Completed!  
You have successfully completed the quest "Cooking Dinner!"  
Reward: **+500 EXP, Increased closeness with father

Okay. I'm not sure how much five-hundred exp is, but it sounds like a good number.

Alright, now then, let's test Observe.

I grab my notes from before and stare at the book itself.

Following the instinct I got from the skill, I say the word "Observe" out loud.

A new tan box opens in front of me.

 **Notebook**  
 **Made by Scholastic Supplies Inc.**  
A book to keep notes in. Currently, it has a few pages with notes about Taylor Hebert's Gamer power.

I close out the box. Huh.

The skill is supposed to get better over time, right? I just have to keep using it…

* * *

About an hour later, I had observed practically everything in my room. When I finished there, I went into my bathroom for my shower, and spent some time observing all of the contents in there too.

By the time I hugged Dad goodnight and went off to bed, I had gained five levels in observe. Now I can actually see who owns an object, a bit more in-depth explanation of what the object is, its dimensions, its weight, and more.

Depending upon the type of object, I can see how many uses it has left, like a soap bar or a bottle of shampoo, or even its "defense rating." All of my clothes provide a big fat zero in that department by the way.

For five levels…that's a lot of information, and that's just on objects. I haven't even used it on people yet.

If it gives me anywhere near the amount of information for people as it does objects…

That means one of my skills is basically a thinker power all by itself that grows in strength the more I use it.

Holy shit…

I'm not even really sure I can imagine what a level 100 Observe would look like.

There were some diminishing returns however. I kept one of the boxes with the skill up after it leveled up to see if I could keep track of the experience it gains. After the first time I observed an object of a specific type, objects of that type gave less and less experience afterwards.

So for example, I could get 5% of a level out of the first time I observed one of my books, but now after I've scanned all of the books in my room, I can only eke out a .25% per book.

There is an exception to this. If the object is unique enough, it provides full exp regardless of what type it is. Apparently, my notebooks I use to record the bullying since last September are "unique" items and gave me a full 10% exp each.

Just like a game though, the higher the level, the longer it takes to level it again.

Again, thanks Greg.

The best possible way to level it is to have access to a large amount of unique objects. If individual people count as unique, well, then any public place will work. If they don't, then the best places to check would be either museums or art galleries.

Beyond that, for the sheer variety of objects, a grocery store would work if it counts different food items separately. A pen and pencil apparently were different enough to count, so it should work.

As a side note, I don't have to fully say the word out loud to use the skill. I can get by with the barest of whispers. I'm not sure if I can fully get rid of that limitation though. It's something to try at least later.

I let out a laugh.

This is just one small, tiny aspect of my power, and already I'm thinking on ways to improve it as fast as I can.

I sit on my bed, too excited to sleep. In fact, I don't even feel tired. What other skills could I level from my own bedroom?

I think for a second, before shaking my head.

Okay, I should step back some. Skills are nice, but it's only one aspect of my power. Somehow, both my "intelligence" and my "wisdom" increased today. I don't feel too much different, but tackling how that system works first before skills sounds like a good idea.

I don't need to reinvent the wheel here. My gaming power is set-up like games are, and what little I picked up from Greg can only go so far. So I just need to research RPGs and see what applies to me and what doesn't.

I stared at my door from my bed. The only computer in the house is downstairs. We do have internet, but it's not the best. As long as I only look up information about video games and don't research in an obvious "I'm a new cape!" fashion, I should be safe to do research about game mechanics here.

After that, I can put a workout plan together. Already, I know I improve in certain ways at a superhuman level. If I can just get stronger by just exercising or smarter by studying in a day what takes people months if not years in effort…well, I can actually live my dream. I can be a hero.

* * *

AN: Thank you guys so much for the follows and favorites. It means a lot to me and really motivated me on writing this story. I do have work on weekdays, so I doubt I can keep up with this update schedule, but I'll try to do my best to at least get a chapter out each week.


	4. Chapter 4

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 4

 **For continuous research, your intelligence has increased by 1.**

I smile as I close out the box. I turn my attention back to the computer and stare at the clock in the corner of the screen.

Roughly half past two in the morning…

Four hours of research have gone by. Concepts such as grinding, min-maxing, and more filled my head, as I bumped from page to page.

Not only do I have a much more in-depth idea on what my powers are about, and what I could possibly do with them, I had even gained a new skill and a new point in intelligence.

I stared at the skill box to see the current level.

 **[Speed Reading (passive) Lv6 EXP: 45.58%]  
A skill using rapid reading to acquire information.  
With more mastery, the faster words can be read.  
Current reading speed: 6000 WPM. **

I close out the box with a big fat grin on my face.

Oh, I am going to have so much fun grinding you…

…

Oookay, that sounded…yeaaaah.

I am going to have so much fun power-leveling you?

Yeah, that's better.

I shake my head.

I can easily level that skill by reading over Mom's collection again.

Hell, even reading my boxes with just a glance now is _so_ convenient and it even levels my skill. From what testing I did during my research, it's kind of like observe. New sources of information give more exp than old sources, but in this case it's about specifically comprehension.

Not only can I speed read to an insane degree, I can fully comprehend it as if I took my time with it. I gain more experience if the information is new, and only gain limited experience with the skill if I already comprehend the idea behind what I read. It's even less experience if I've already read it relatively recently.

No idea on how it will work on books I've read dozens of times in the past, but even if it doesn't net me much, it'll still be fun to read a classic novel in less than thirty minutes…

I'll even be able to catch up on all the books on my "to read" list.

Another one of my skills is practically a thinker power all on its own, and it's obviously the best thinker power. Any super power that makes you super human at reading is automatically _the_ best super power _by_ _default_. No argument.

Hell, my cooking skill, if it gets as ridiculous as this, might count as a tinker power with a food specialization.

The best thing is that with observe, I'll be leveling speed reading all the time. The more I level observe also means the more information I'll be reading as well, and with how fast I read, I'll have even more time to observe things to level both skills.

The ridiculousness of that loop solely benefiting myself is so hilarious; I can't help but smile while thinking about it.

And that's just two skills!

The biggest difference between my power and normal games is the fact that I can seemingly pull skills out of thin air. I'm sure there's some limit that prevents me from just clapping my hands and getting one of the Triumvirate's powers, but even so, what little skills I have gotten from just doing normal things tells me I'm only seeing the tip of the iceberg here.

What also makes my power a bit unique in terms of game rules is that it is seemingly mixing two different ideologies. Well, it's possibly three depending upon how you view leveling skills.

RPGs generally have experience geared towards just levels. The player has stats or attributes that can only change after they level up with points or they don't even have stats at all. All they mainly do is pump experience into their personal level, and when it goes up, they get stronger. They can't level their attributes directly and have to go through an intermediary to do so.

The other, not so popular mechanic, is leveling attributes directly. If the player wants more strength, they level it with actions geared towards using that attribute, and the same goes for other stats. Dexterity, perception, endurance, intelligence, and even luck can all be leveled individually by repeatedly doing actions that use those attributes.

I seemingly have the best of both worlds. I have attributes going by the messages earlier…well technically yesterday…and can level them by using those attributes. I also must have a personal level as well beyond my skills given what I saw over Dad's head and the quest I completed.

The biggest question here is…well, how do I view my attributes and my current level?

Most games have a menu to look at whatever you needed to, but they also have a menu button to press, and I haven't had a box with the words menu on it yet…

If I have a menu, it's clearly not thought activated. Just thinking the word menu very hard is doing squat. Even when I think specifically about my skills, I get bupkus.

There's got to be something I'm missing here…

Well, I finished the research I wanted to do, and I didn't really plan on that. I even got a skill and an attribute point I wasn't planning for. So, time well spent I think.

I was originally going to stop when I got tired…but the need to sleep just…never came.

I might not even need to…

I'm not sure if that's necessarily a common aspect of some powers, but I'll need to look into it, probably at the library to be safe.

If that's the case, given how my powers need time to grow, that's just _excellent_ synergy.

It fits the research too. Most RPGs have characters with no need to sleep, eat, or drink. Those that do only come up in games that are not part of the norm, or have an extra survival mode that specifically feature those requirements.

I am jumping ahead of myself though. I don't know for sure if I don't need to sleep. I'll need to stay up and see if I get tired some time tomorrow. If the game logic holds out, I can even skip breakfast and lunch, then see if my stomach acts up…

I have no idea how my body actually sustains itself if that's the case. If my theory's confirmed tomorrow, it's fodder to think about at least.

Well, if I'm not going to sleep, and I'm done with the computer, I have a few options on what I can do to work out with my power.

One, I could try and see if I can create a more combat oriented skill. If I want to eventually go out and patrol the city as a hero, I'll need something to actually fight with. I guess a skill based on a martial art would work, but my skills need something to start with before I can just level them.

I stare back at the computer. I could look up a few introductions or basics in different martial arts and try to practice it. The only issue there is its late and I don't want to wake Dad up.

Some martial skills in games only generate experience when you actively hit something. Then again, unlike games, my life offers much more freedoms in terms of how I can move and act.

It would, while useful, probably be a better idea to wait until tomorrow morning after Dad left for work.

Two, I could test what books we have in the house to see if I have a skill book, blueprint, or recipe system. Heck, maybe it'll count an atlas as a map. After confirmation, I just could go through all the books in the house.

Again, the main issue is not waking up Dad.

Three, I could go back to my room and try focusing on training an attribute. As long as I'm careful, I should be able to keep noise down to a minimum.

Four, I could write down in my notes about what I've learned. It will give me time to go over everything again, and see if anything new clicks about opening my menu. Who knows, maybe by going over it, I'll see something that I missed earlier.

Rather than just have the focus on attribute training in general, this option likely would increase one of my mental attributes just by consequence, and would net me further understanding of my power in general.

…Yeah, option four sounds the best right now.

 **For a thought-out plan of action, your wisdom has increased by 1.**

As I walk up the stairs and quietly head towards my room, I can't stop smiling.

* * *

I leaf through my recently written notes. It took about forty minutes, but I believe I have everything important written down.

I've tried my best to make everything in terms of game mechanics, so hopefully if anyone sees it, they'll just think I'm a big gaming nerd of the paper and pen variety.

I think Dad was a huge D&D nerd in the past…so, like father like daughter?

I smile slightly. I may not want to worry Dad just yet, but he's probably going to geek out about my powers isn't he?

I snort out a small chuckle and focus back on my work.

Within my notebook, I have it divided between sections.

In one, I've written down roughly everything I know about my power, and will likely fill that section up very quickly as time goes by. In another section, I've written down mechanics from games that might possibly exist for me in some form.

The other minor sections are just filled with basic gaming terminology, basic concepts, and possible future methods in leveling the skills and attributes I have efficiently and quickly.

While I was researching, I was mainly looking at how RPG games generally function and comparing them to what I know about my own power to feel out what I could possibly do.

Now I'm doing the opposite, seeing specifically where my powers differ. By doing that, I can hopefully nail down how I open my menu.

The biggest difference is I have no UI outside of the boxes that appear from time to time. Which makes sense, even with my power's gaming logic; I'm still a real person in a very real non-gaming world.

There's no controller or keyboard since my body _is_ the controller for my gaming power. I don't come with a start or menu button.

I only have one active skill, and I know it's vocalized. Since I have no controller, again, this makes sense. Since I can't press a button for the skill or the menu, then they might have the same trigger.

 **For sound logic, your intelligence has increased by 1.**

…Does that mean I'm right?

"Menu."

A blue box pops up.

I guess it does!

Quickly, I skim over the contents.

 **Game Menu**

 **-Status-  
-Inventory-  
-Skills-  
-Perks & Titles-  
-Party-  
-Journal-  
-Options-  
-Extras-**

I let out a content sigh. I feel a little stupid for not figuring it out sooner, but hey; apparently I don't get a tutorial. That's fine by me though. Just exploring how my powers work has been more fun than I have had in a very long time.

Okay, first things first. I grab my pencil and turn over in the notebook back to the section mainly about my power. I write out exactly what I see on my menu box, before continuing. The plan is to go down the list, see what each option is, and write notes about each one.

"Status."

Immediately a tan box appears in the place of the menu.

 **Name: Taylor Hebert  
Class: The Gamer  
Title: N/A  
Level: 1 EXP: 87.75%**

 **HP: 100/100  
MP: 190/190**

 **Strength: 4  
Vitality: 5  
Dexterity: 8  
Intelligence: 14  
Wisdom: 7  
Luck: 2**

 **Attribute Points: 5  
Money: $0**

I skim through it quickly, and then focus on the more interesting parts, going down the list.

So, I'll eventually get titles. I'm not sure how useful that is since all the games I've come across in my research just use them cosmetically. If it gives me any boost to my stats though, that'll be great. If not, well, it's something I can play around with.

Why is experience displayed in percentages when I get experience points? Just to see if anything happens, I poke the EXP counter.

A small box pops up over it.

 **1755/2000**

Oh, well, I guess if I want to know the gritty details in terms of points I can just poke it. The percentages honestly are a bit more convenient, but knowing the value of exp and how much I need exactly is going to be important for knowing when quests will guarantee I level up when they are completed.

Moving on, I have more mana than health, which given how my stats probably work makes sense. Intelligence is my highest stat right now, and health should be determined by vitality.

Well, if one gave me extra information, maybe the rest will. I poke my HP bar.

 **HP regenerates 1.5 points per minute based on Vitality and max Health.**

Oh! I regenerate health. It's not exactly impressive as other regenerating brutes, but still, I regenerate!

I do some quick math on the side margins of my notes.

…Okay, it would take me roughly sixty-six and a half minutes for my health to fully regenerate. Still while not really combat viable, I have a decidedly superhuman regeneration factor…

…and since it's tied into vitality, it'll get even better.

I'll need to see what is normal health-wise for other people before I start planning on which attributes I need to train though, but vitality looks a lot more enticing to me now.

I tap on my MP.

 **MP regenerates 3.2 points per minute based on Wisdom and max Mana.**

While great, the only problem here is I need to find something that actually uses my mana…

I continue on down to my attributes. Next to each is a counter where I can add points. I currently have five. I'm not sure if I just start with five or if five is the amount I get per level. Before I use any of my points though, I want to explore all my options. A few taps tells me just about what I expect with each stat, and I start writing down what each states.

Strength makes me stronger and consequently boosts my physical attack power.

Vitality makes me healthier and boosts my HP regeneration.

Dexterity makes me faster, more flexible, and more graceful.

Intelligence makes me smarter, boosts my MP total, and boosts my magical attack power.

Wisdom makes me wiser, boosts my MP regeneration, and makes me resistant to magical attacks.

The odd man out though is the last one.

 **Luck** **will skew probabilities in the Gamer's favor. A higher luck will boost the drop rate of items, the likelihood of a critical hit, and the Gamer's success in games of chance.**

First of all, drop rates? That means my gamer power actually has a loot system, but if I want to be a hero, I can't just take money from criminals I arrest…

That's clearly a PRT no-no for heroes. I may not know a lot about the specifics but I sure as hell know that "loot everything" is not acceptable no matter who you're looting.

I don't even know how a drop rate would work in real life…

Is it going to be like with my glasses and do something that makes no sense? Is it just going to magically empty their pockets?

Ugh, I guess I'll just figure out how this system works later.

Beyond that, essentially with luck, I might get better items…however that works, I might hit harder some of the time…which again is something that only makes sense with game logic, and I might do better at gambling…somehow.

It's definitely the odd duck compared to the other stats that directly improve me. Then again, it's luck. Compared to attributes that purely affect me physically, it's going to be odd simply due to it being a nebulous subject.

It's also my lowest attribute, so I feel like I should give it some attention, at least until it's not so worrying.

Because that low score does make me feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable in a way that any other stat being low wouldn't.

Is my luck so terrible because of my crappy life? Or is my crappy life so terrible because of my low luck?

I'd rather not think that luck is that powerful, even if my power has a number for it and that it can possibly grow to be stronger. Before I got my powers, I firmly believed that my life for the most part was not at the whims of probability. Things happened due to cause and effect.

There's a reason for things on why my life is the way it is. I'd rather not believe the idea that if my theoretical luck score was higher, that if _I'd_ only been luckier, Emma would have never stabbed me in the back and Mom would still be alive.

Honestly, it's probably just another oddity of my power making reality succumb to game mechanics. It doesn't mention anything about a low score inducing bad luck after all, and it doesn't talk about altering events in general in my favor.

Even if I know that intellectually, it still bothers me a bit for bringing up the concept.

As I stare at the current amount of attribute points I have, I'm almost tempted into dumping the lot straight into my luck.

However, I know that I should save my points. If it's like my skill training or the attribute training in other games, my attributes will take longer to level the higher they are, the earlier I use my points, the less efficient I am being with my training.

I'm sure depending upon the situation that getting stronger faster will be more important than getting stronger efficiently, but right now, that's not the time.

 **For thinking ahead, your wisdom has increased by 1.**

I smile, my wide lips almost reaching across the entirety of my face. Even when my power makes me feel uncomfortable, it does something right afterwards that instantly cheers me up.

It's just…nice to have that little pat on the back in my life, even if it is just a floating blue box.

…Again, something else the bitches three took away from me, any contact with positive reinforcement.

Well, fuck them, I have super powers. There's no way they can sour this for me.

So, the question now is, if I want to train my luck, how do I do that without losing any money in a casino…or hopefully any form of gambling?

The term "games of chance" doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a game over money…

…I did want to get closer to Dad. If we start having game night again like we used to, that could handle both issues.

I nod to myself. Yeah, that's definitely going down into the training ideas section.

The only other part of the Status menu is the money counter. Something that, while not necessarily impressive, is definitely convenient. It probably ties into the next menu, and the one I'm the most excited for.

"Inventory."

A large tan box opens this time. On the right, I see tons of tiny empty squares. On the left, I see cartoonish icons of what I'm currently wearing in several boxes overlaying a female silhouette.

The boxes that are not filled with an article of clothing or my glasses have a silhouette of a medieval equivalent of what I could wear there: gauntlets, bracers, a shield, a sword, rings with ridiculously large gems, and even greaves.

I look over the icons of what is currently equipped. There's just one thing that's missing right now…

I poke the box containing my sweat pants.

Two boxes pop-up, one with my pants, the other with my…

I pause.

An eyebrow slowly makes its ascent on my forehead.

Okay, not missing. I wonder…

I poke the second box and the article of clothing is highlighted. Like with my boxes before, I drag it over to one of the empty squares on the right side.

I pull my finger away.

As soon as I do, I feel a slight breeze as something on my person instantly disappeared.

My eyes widen as I suddenly undo what I just did, sliding the clothing item back into its appropriate slot as fast as I can.

I feel it suddenly reappear on my body.

I start laughing. I can't help it due to the sheer absurdity that is my super power.

…I can take off and put on underwear without even removing my pants.

Clearly, I am the ultimate life form.

I slam a hand over my mouth before I get too loud, my laughter increasing.

As soon as I get myself under control, I look over the inventory again.

Above the "equipped items" page on the left, there are tabs with numbers on them, ranging from one to seven. One is currently highlighted. I poke number two.

 **Would you like to equip outfit set #2?**

I slowly tap on the "Yes" button.

Suddenly, I'm _completely_ naked.

I barely manage not to shriek at the feeling of a sudden breeze as every bit of clothing I was wearing just vanished into thin air.

I go back to number one, hit yes immediately as the box appears, and suddenly, I'm clothed again.

I sit there for a few moments. It's really odd to instantly go from fully clothed to fully naked and vice versa like that…

Well, at least I know what it is. It's some sort of saved outfit feature. That's pretty neat. It's not generally a feature of RPGs though. More of a feature commonly seen in a life simulation game, but it'll make going between costume and normal clothes a snap.

I just hope I don't accidentally equip an empty one outside. That would be _really_ embarrassing.

I click the second one again, and this time hit "No." I'm still on the tab of empty boxes but number one is still highlighted. There's also an equip button below all the empty boxes.

So, the question when you poke initially at one of the tabs is just some sort of convenient fast equip thing. Nice to know I can sort which outfits I want in each without having to be naked.

As I go back to writing notes, I pause.

I stare at my pencil, and look back up at the floating inventory box.

I pick up and push my pencil against the right hand side.

Unlike my test earlier this…I pause and look over at the clock…well yesterday; the pencil does not go through like the box is not there. Instead there's a small flash of light when it makes contact, and the pencil slowly disappears into the light as I push it.

When I push it all the way, the light disappears and now there's a cartoon icon of a pencil in the very first box, going left to right.

Even if I know logically that's what was going to happen, just seeing it makes me so excited.

I have a pocket dimension that acts like a literal pocket.

It's the first aspect of my power that's really flashy, and has me gushing ' _I have fucking super powers!'_ in my head over and over.

I can't help myself. I grabbed a few more pencils from the cup on my desk and shoved them into the box.

 _Holy fuck they stack... Oh my god..._

My eyes glazed over while I grinned.

* * *

Before I knew it, it was an hour later.

An hour of me stuffing everything I could think of into my inventory.

Everything in my desk, all my books school and otherwise, the clothes in my closet, my pillows, all the loose change I found, a random pack of batteries, a half-used Kleenex box…

And more. Much more.

None of it was safe from me.

The first time the screen was full of items, I was worried I'd reach my max limit, and my fun would be put to an end.

But no!

Every time I filled up a screen, it would just pan over to a new one for me to fill.

I had filled roughly six whole pages before I finally stopped myself.

Not at all because I couldn't fit the desk chair into my inventory and it gave me a moment to stop and think, _no sir_.

I shook my head while I looked around the room, slightly exasperated with myself for getting carried away.

Slowly, I started pulling things out of my inventory and putting them back. I'd keep a few things, like all the money I found and some basics like an empty notepad and some pencils. I would definitely need to write down a list of items to always carry around in My Powers notebook.

I still wasn't tired at all, and I knew by the time I finished putting everything back, it would be almost time for Dad to wake up.

It would be nice if he woke up to some hot breakfast.

Another quest box about making more food for dad popped up.

I stared at it with a smile. A smile I had worn for the past hour.

My power is awesome. I don't care if it's weird. I don't care if it's not an Alexandria package. It's fucking awesome, and it's mine.


	5. Chapter 5

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 5

The smell of steaming hot coffee and sizzling bacon wafted throughout the kitchen.

While folding a cheese omelet, I heard the slight creaking of the stairs. I look up and see Dad in his morning ritual bath robe making his way down, already done with his morning shower.

"Good morning Dad! Breakfast's almost ready!"

I see him blearily stare at me with surprise, before muttering a quiet "Morning" with a slight smile.

He walks over to give me a kiss on my forehead, before sitting down at the table. I hand him his coffee, then I'm back to the counter and finishing up with his plate.

My cooking skill even at level one was showing its worth. I always preferred making scrambled eggs in the mornings since they were easier. Now, I was handling an omelet with much more ease then I ever had before.

I heard the ding of the toaster, and make my way over to it. A spread of butter and jelly later, and breakfast is ready to be served.

As I set his plate down in front of him, a few blue boxes pop up. I ignore them for right now while I'm so close to Dad.

"Thanks." He took a slow sip of his coffee. "You're up early. You didn't want to sleep in?"

I take my seat across from him, while I do my best not to smirk. "I didn't really feel the need to."

He nodded slightly, before his face scrunched up in confusion. He looked back into the kitchen, and then back to me. "Where's your food?"

I shrugged. "I'm just not that hungry right now." I frowned as I thought about it. I couldn't actually remember eating breakfast at all in the past week. "I haven't been up this early since the hospital, have I?"

Dad shook his head. "No, you haven't. Not since before…" He cut off awkwardly.

"Yeah…" I unhelpfully add.

"Mm." He takes a bite of food and lets out a grunt of satisfaction.

A minute passes in silence.

 _Stupid, stupid; w_ hy did I have to bring the damn hospital up?

Slowly, Dad puts the fork down. "You know, I could have taken care of my own breakfast. You didn't have to worry about it."

I just raise one eyebrow. "Dad, _relax_. It's just breakfast."

He put his hands up in a warding gesture. "I know. I know. I just…worry." He looks back at the half eaten omelet. "Even when I can clearly see you're doing better…" He looks up at me with a sad expression "…I still worry."

I sigh and give him a sad smile. "You always do, don't you?"

He nods with his own melancholy expression. "It's a father's job to worry about their daughter. Even when they…" Again, I see that face mixed with sadness, a touch of anger, and guilt. Slowly, he looks back down at his food and continues eating.

How was he going to end that sentence I wonder? Probably another lead-in to 'Who put you in that locker Taylor?' A question I still wasn't comfortable answering…

Yeah, this morning's off to a _perfect_ start.

I _really_ shouldn't have mentioned the hospital. God and we were doing so great yesterday too.

I stare at him for a second, before coming to a decision. I mutter a quiet observe under my breath.

I skim the boxes I have up.

 **Your "Cooking" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Quest Completed!  
You have successfully completed the quest "Cooking Breakfast!"  
Reward: **+500 EXP, Increased closeness with father

 **Your level has increased by 1!**

I pause. As soon as Dad leaves, I'm checking my status again.

 **Name: Daniel Hebert  
Title: DU Head of Hiring  
Sex: Male  
Level: 20 EXP: N/A  
Age: 42 Race: Human**

HP: 500/500 MP: N/A

 **STR: 18  
VIT: 15  
DEX: 6  
INT: 14  
WIS: 19  
LUK: 4**

 **History: A single dad grieving the loss of his wife nearly two and half years previously. He has put most of his energy into his work to provide for his daughter.**

I let out a soft sigh. There's plenty of information to go over in my notebook later, but nothing to help me with Dad right now. The skill description wasn't kidding when it said brief history.

Yeah, I'm going to need to level 'Observe' some more before I can get anything that might help me understand what Dad's feeling.

I know I'm going to eventually tell him everything, but I have no idea when. Just thinking about doing it…makes me uncomfortable.

I take a deep breath. This whole thing with Dad was about taking small steps to change our relationship for the better. If I focus on the small steps now, rather than the whole picture, it won't be so daunting later on when I can tell him about everything.

If I feel closer to him…I'll naturally be more open to talking, right?

…

I look around for any boxes I missed. Huh. I was kind of hoping for a 'Congrats! You're wise!' prompt there…

I did _not_ pout.

Oh well.

I still have the rest of this week before school even matters. So I can put the talk we'll have about it off for just a few more days.

Besides…I'm actually more uncomfortable talking to Dad about the bullying than I am going back to Winslow now…

My powers clearly have affected me mentally…and…yeah, that's slightly scary and concerning now that I put it like that.

My powers pretty much _mastered_ me. Even if it is a good thing that I'm not depressed anymore and I feel confident in myself again…

It's a little creepy.

It's like I got powers that said "Hey, stop being depressed" and my brain went "Okay." That is not how therapy is supposed to work.

Do other people's powers do things like this?

Nope. Stop. That's off topic.

The question is…since my powers affected my mind; will it make the bullying have any real impact on me anymore? If I can just nap depression away, then it's pretty much impossible for them to tear me down anymore. They can't possibly break me now.

There's this other mental aspect of my powers too, where significant negative emotions feel…distant and muted. I still feel them, but I feel more in control of myself. It's like I can put heavy emotions aside while I deal with problems calmly and rationally.

If that affects Emma's emotional bullying at Winslow, it might just make all the difference.

I know I said I didn't want anything to do with that hell hole anymore…but now…things are different.

I glance at what boxes are still up. Things are very different…

My powers will keep growing over time, and I'll develop new ones as skills, but right now what I have is already enough to perfectly prevent them from really hurting me anymore.

I have the ability to literally become both wiser and more intelligent, so I should be able to pull my grades up.

I have this weird emotion power that seems to basically dilute negative feelings. Fuck you Emma.

I have an inventory, so all my homework and belongings are pretty much completely safe now while on my person. Fuck you Madison.

I can even regenerate, so even physical bullying wouldn't really do much long term harm. Fuck you Sophia.

Hell, if they tried something like the locker again…

I shiver a bit.

…and for whatever reason I couldn't stop them, I could probably easily survive it.

Then, an idea hits me.

I blink.

Huh.

There's this one burning question I always have had that I could never answer when my ex-best friend began this living nightmare.

I now have 'observe.'

If I level that up high enough, I can possibly find out why this whole thing even started. Why Emma started this bullying campaign to begin with…

 **Quest Alert:  
Behind the Betrayal  
**Discover why your ex-best friend stabbed you in the back!

 **Time limit:** Indefinite.  
 **Reward:** +5000 EXP  
 **Failure Penalty:** N/A

I nod slightly. Yes. I definitely have a reason to go back to Winslow now.

I look over to my Dad.

He's still a bit distracted with the last remains of breakfast, so I do have ample time to poke each box close…but why should I have to poke them?

My power seems to be focused on verbal commands. If I just whisper a command like exit or close, will the boxes go away?

I mutter again under my breath. "Exit."

All the boxes vanish.

Well, that's convenient.

I focus back on Dad.

Small steps. _Small steps._

"Dad?"

He manages a slight "Hmm?" with his mouth full of toast.

"With all the time off you've used…" _Don't mention the hospital. "…_ recently, are you back to a normal schedule?"

He swallows, thinks for a second, and shakes his hand in a neutral gesture. "Roughly. I've been trying to catch up on things a little recently. So, you know, I go in early as usual, but I've been leaving a little later then normal." He frowns. "Do you need me to take today off or something? Do you need me home early?"

I shake my head and give my best reproachful look. "No, it's nothing like that you workaholic." He chuckled at that. Okay, my reproachful look needs work. "I was wondering…remember how we used to do game night?"

He blinked, and then his eyes dulled slightly. "Yes, I do."

I knew it was a loaded question, considering _who_ was here during the last Hebert family game night roughly two and a half years ago, but it was the only thing I could think of since I already planned to ask him about it.

"Do you think we could start having game night again, just the two of us on one of your days off?"

I see him smile just barely, the pain still on his face. "Sure thing, kiddo. Sure thing."

I frown to myself. That's a bit too small of a step. I even feel slightly guilty since I mainly thought of the idea for the purpose of building up my luck during those games. I definitely don't want to spend time with Dad _just_ for that…I want it to be more meaningful.

I take a deep breath.

"Dad…"

Okay, small step.

"I know…I've been…distant…a lot lately. Even before the locker. I haven't…talked much about what's been going on with my life with you, but…I want to change that…"

All sense of Dad being tired has vanished. His attention is one-hundred percent focused on me. I nibble on my nervous lips a little, before starting again.

"I'm not…I'm not comfortable talking about things, but…but I want to let you know, I'm going to try to, okay?"

He nods slowly. I close my eyes.

"I don't know when I'll be able to, but I want you to know…I want to talk to you about it…I just…can't right now."

I stare at him with pleading eyes, hoping he understands.

"Does that make sense?"

I see him lean back in his chair and take a deep breath. There's this tension he had about him I didn't notice before, that I can now see slowly drain out of him. He looks back at me with the same relieved smile he gave me when I woke up in the hospital.

"Yes, Taylor. That makes perfect sense."

He starts getting out of his chair, and grabs his finished plate. Before heading to the kitchen, he looks at me with love, very much alive and happy.

"Take all the time you need. Tell me what's going on when you're comfortable, okay?" He frowns slightly. "I know I've…pushed a little here and there, and I'm sorry for it, but if you ever want to talk about anything, I'll always be here for you."

I nod. "Thanks Dad."

I inhale through my nose, and let it out through my mouth.

Now that's a good small step.


	6. Chapter 6

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 6

Time passed rather quickly. After I convinced Dad I could take care of the kitchen while he went up to change into his work clothes, I cleaned up after breakfast. There, I found out in a combined snort of amusement and consternation, that yes, my power did give something as mundane as a "Dish Washing" skill.

So apparently my powers are telling me that if this super hero gig doesn't work out, I can always become a super house wife…

Yeah, _no_.

 _Not going to happen._

After the kitchen was done, it wasn't long before Dad gave me a hug and a kiss, told me to rest, and left for work.

As I heard his car pull out of the drive-way and head down the street, I started making plans for the day.

Dad was, officially, supposed to be working from nine to five. That's not exactly the hours he kept. He went in early at around eight, and lately, hadn't been coming home until after seven.

So, I easily had more than eight hours to continue playing around with my powers.

First thing, finish messing around with the menu.

Second, look into skill books.

Third, create an actual combat skill.

If I have any more time after that, I'll work on raising my physical stats. My current gains in intelligence and wisdom have been mainly just byproducts of what I already wanted to do, so it should be interesting seeing how much my attributes improve by actually focusing solely on training them.

I also need to continue making sure that I don't feel tired, hungry, or thirsty.

That sounds like a good full day of power testing to me.

I just needed to see how that level up affected my stats before I started proper.

"Status."

 **Name: Taylor Hebert  
Class: The Gamer  
Title: N/A  
Level: 2 EXP: 12.44%**

 **HP: 200/200  
MP: 380/380**

 **Strength: 4  
Vitality: 5  
Dexterity: 8  
Intelligence: 14  
Wisdom: 8  
Luck: 2**

 **Attribute Points: 10  
Money: $32.15**

Wow, my mana and health freaking doubled…

Dad still has more health than me at level twenty… but I should have more health within just a few levels. He definitely doesn't heal like I do even with his vitality, so…

I guess at best, it seems like attributes for other people are just abstractions based on their capability.

Dad even has zero mana…

I'm going to definitely explore my mana either tonight after Dad goes to bed, or tomorrow.

With two more taps, I saw my new regeneration values.

 **HP regenerates 3.0 points per minute based on Vitality and max Health.**

 **MP regenerates 6.8 points per minute based on Wisdom and max Mana.**

I gaped at the box. I knew my regeneration would increase…but I didn't expect it to increase by that much with just one extra level!

…Just how strong can I get with these powers?

I continue down the list.

It's good to know its five attribute points per level, but still, I want to save them for later. By level ten…I could dump fifty points into any of my attributes…

At what point would my attributes become super-human? Dad didn't have any attributes in the twenties…so are the tens the human average?

I'm technically kind of already a brute going by my regeneration alone, but would one hundred points in strength make me super strong?

Could…could I eventually be as strong as Alexandria herself?

As fantastic as that sounds, I'm not sure if that would be possible…

What about level caps? Would all my stats cap out at a certain point? Is there a point I would just stop growing like this? Or am I going to be like Dauntless and possibly have no upper limit?

I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it.

The only thing left to note that's different is the cash I have in my inventory now. I did stuff my wallet and whatever loose change I found in my room in there. I even found a few dollar coins lying around.

I snort. My inventory is my own personal bank that no one can rob.

God, my powers have the most ridiculous mundane utilities…

That's enough of seeing what changed in status…

"Menu."

 **Game Menu**

 **-Status-  
-Inventory-  
-Skills-  
-Perks & Titles-  
-Party-  
-Journal-  
-Options-  
-Extras-**

"Skills."

A box with a tan outline and a pale yellow interior appeared. In the interior, there were small square cartoonish icons.

The icons were a little cute: a small pot of water boiling on a stove, a wide staring eyeball, a person that looked a lot like a cartoon version of flipping through a book, and a wet soapy sponge on top of a plate.

A few taps with my finger told me that they were skills I created, the familiar red boxes of Cooking, Observe, Speed Reading, and Dish Washing appearing and telling me their current level and their description. The description for some had changed slightly with their level. Observe for example had a slightly bigger list on what it could reveal in what I observed.

It's nice to know it's written down somewhere for me automatically.

"Perks and Titles."

Two tan boxes open. The one named "Titles" is just empty, and has a grayed out "equip" button at the bottom.

...I guess it's something that I'll have to explore later whenever I get titles.

The "Perk" one has two entries.

 **[Gamer's Mind]  
Allows the user to calmly and logically  
think things through. Allows peaceful  
state of mind. Immunity to psychological  
status effects.**

 **[Gamer's Body]  
Grants a body that allows for the user  
to live the real world like a game.**

…Ah, so that's the whole "Mute negative emotions" and "Wow, I've been thinking very clearly about my life recently" aspect of my power. Honestly, I thought the latter was just my wisdom increasing…

…Also, the "Holy crap, my power is outright telling me it's mastering me!" aspect.

Hell, going by this, getting over my depression wasn't just my naps in general; if I understand it correctly, this skill literally prevents me from _ever_ getting depressed _again_ …

I mean, in terms of master powers that affect people…this is I'd say a good thing. I mean, it only affects me, so it's not like it'll technically count as a master power from another person's perspective, they'd just consider it a thinker power probably…

…But still, the idea that my power is playing with my own mind by tampering with my emotions, even if it is doing it in an arguably good fashion…

I shiver uncontrollably. It's very unnerving.

The fact I can feel unnerved by it and those feelings aren't magically going away is a small comfort at least.

Do other capes have powers that do this to them? Mess with them on such a fundamental level?

Quietly, I go over the perk description a few more times.

On the other hand…immunity to psychological status effects sounds like a big deal. What all could that entail?

…Wait a minute.

Would psychological status effects include the powers of human-controlling/influencing Masters? Hell, what about Strangers that affect other people's minds?

My jaw drops for the second time as the implications hit me. If I'm right…that is…one fucking _bullshit_ Trump power.

I start to laugh.

If I can somehow test it with something safe, like Glory Girl's aura, just to make sure…I could be someone that's completely immune to some of the _scariest_ capes in the _world_.

 _Holy shit..._

You know what; I'll take being mentally affected by my powers easily if it means _literally no one else_ can do the same to me.

That's more than worth it.

As for Gamer's Body, I guess that's pretty much just the gateway power for everything else my power does. There's not much to go off of the text right now.

I am already testing the whole sleeping and eating thing, which Gamer's Body is probably responsible for. Also, it's probably why my attributes have more weight in how it affects me compared to Dad's attributes and his stats.

What would it be classified as though?

What were the differences between Changer and Breaker again? It'll either be one of those or considered a Brute power…I think.

I sigh.

…I need to go over the classifications again, now that they actually apply to me

At the bottom, the tan box has a counter for Perk points and a grayed out "Trees" button.

...A perk tree huh? I guess it won't show anything to me unless I meet some sort of minimum requirements. I don't even have a perk point yet, so it could be something I can do only once every five levels or something.

Again, it's something to check later.

"Party."

Another tan box pops into existence.

The only thing here is a cartoon version of me from the neck up smiling with my wide lips. Next to…cartoon me are numbers showing my current level and health.

Huh.

I guess it's just showing the current "party" and since I haven't…invited anyone else, it's just me. So…what happens if I invite someone to the party? How do I invite someone to a party?

I doubt it involves giving them a card…

It's…probably a vocal command. I'm not sure exactly what the point of it is, but it's something that I'll have to explore with someone else later. Someone I can trust talking to about my powers…

I sighed in frustration.

The inventory was a lot more exciting…

"Journal."

A green box with multiple options pops up. Ooh, haven't seen green yet. That's neat.

 **Journal**

 **-Dossiers-  
-Quest Log-  
-Maps-  
-Crafting-  
-Misc.-**

I blink.

That's…interesting.

I tap on "Dossiers."

Another green box overlays the first, and only has one option.

 **-Brockton Bay Civilians-**

Another press of my finger and another green box shows up, again, with only one option.

 **Daniel Hebert**

I blink.

I poke my Dad's name.

The entire entry from what I "observed" earlier sits in front of me. The brief history, his attributes, and everything else are all there.

Apparently, my power likes writing down notes too…

Right next to it, is a 3D cartoon model of my dad just calmly walking in place on a green circle.

Its appearance only slightly startled me. It's the first…non 2D portion of my UI I've seen. He's also wearing his bath robe…for some reason.

 _Oh._ Is that because I observed him while he was wearing it? Well, I just need to observe Dad again in proper clothes to see if it'll fix it, at least for his dignity if nothing else.

So, any person I observe, that information is just…written down for me in my menu's journal, while also including an actual visual representation of the person in question.

Huh, neat.

My Sherlock power comes with its own Watson that writes everything down.

Yeah, if I can't be a super hero, I'll take future super investigator over house wife any day.

With a snort and a giggle, I close out of the screens and back myself up to the journal menu.

I continue down the list.

My "Quest Log" is fairly straightforward. It obviously goes over my quests, with a list of active quests on the right and completed quests on the left. I click on my current "Behind the Betrayal" quest, the only active one I have. It shows me the same message I saw before when I got the quest, however, this time it includes a new button.

 **Show on Minimap**

I eagerly press my finger on it.

Suddenly, a new screen pops up: a very in-depth map of Brockton Bay. It's like an online map of a city with a few controls off to the side.

As soon as it appears, it zooms in by itself to focus on a specific area.

In that area are four tokens that look like blue arrowheads with a small circle at their points. A quick browse of the map shows me that two of them are at Winslow, one is at a law firm with a somewhat familiar name, and the last one is…at Emma's house.

Four icons, or waypoints, that tell me where I can complete this quest…which is specifically: find out what is causing the bullying.

…My powers come with in-built GPS.

…

Huh.

…

Moving on, are these pointing to people or objects that can tell me what's going on?

The two at school must be Emma and Sophia, since the first period just started. Also, the whole bully campaign began after Sophia showed up in my life, so it figures she'd be involved.

The law firm one must be Emma's dad, Alan…but what about the one at her house?

Is it a journal perhaps? Emma never really was one for journals though…

Well, if I have a map that knows exactly where Emma and Sophia are, at all times due to this quest, I'm almost convinced to never finish it…

…but, no, I want to know what happened. I need to know, and I'm motivated by just knowing where I can go to learn about what happened to take Ems, my sister in all but blood, and turned her into Emma, my tormentor.

I've thought about talking to Emma's dad before, to see if he could tell me why Emma hated me all of a sudden, but before now, Emma's taunting that her dad would always have her back and could ruin my family financially kept me back.

…Now in recollection, her words lack the bite they once had. I think I could just go up to him at his law office and ask to talk to him. As long as I'm not a threat to Emma, would he be willing to talk about why she's different?

Or, should I go to her house and see if I can take a peek at whatever else could let me know what's going on?

Depending upon how this works, it could be that only one of these points would complete the quest, or it could be I need information from each to get the full picture. If it's the latter…well, I'll have to take care of this one at a time.

Confronting Sophia and Emma will have to wait for next week…

There's no way I'll get them to talk without something to get my foot into the door.

I nod to myself. I won't do it today, but tomorrow, I'll…yes, I'll go have a chat with Mr. Barnes and see if Mrs. Barnes is at home and will let me in to take a look around.

God…I used to call them Aunt and Uncle…

They used to be family…

With a deep breath, I focus forward. I'll start on this quest tomorrow. Right now, I have power testing to do.

There's not much left to my Journal.

"Maps" just has the same mini-map of Brockton Bay. While it was the only option currently, it was arrayed in such a way that it kind of implied I might get maps of other cities too. I'll just need to play around with an Atlas when I check for skill books to see if I can add new maps to it.

"Crafting" only currently has a "Cooking tab" and it is filled with dozens of basic recipes, each one telling me exactly how much HP and MP they restore, and whatever other small bonuses they offer.

Home-made hot chocolate apparently gives me a bonus towards cold resistance for example.

"Misc." was the last Journal option.

 **Misc.**

 **-Notes-  
-Statistics-  
-Log-  
-Reputation-**

"Notes."

A blank window opened up, still colored a basic green. New, open, delete, save, export, and import buttons laid at the bottom.

My right eyebrow slowly rose up a bit.

I selected new.

The green cleared to a white box with a blinking vertical line at the top. A slightly transparent qwerty keyboard colored blue like my boxes appeared in front of me, underneath the white page.

What?

My powers include a…word processor?

My eyebrow twitched.

Seriously?

Without much fanfare, I typed the words "Really?"

It wasn't the most ergonomic keyboard I've ever used, but it got the job done. Then again, it's a keyboard my powers _conjured out of thin air._

I don't think I should complain.

I hit save, and it gives me a prompt to name the note. I reiterate by naming it "Really!?" and then I hit the enter key on the _freaking_ holographic keyboard.

"Go back." I deadpan.

The document disappears and I'm back at the green "Notes" screen. This time, there's an item named "Really!?" in the mostly empty green.

I select it, and in unreal curiosity, I hit export.

Another box pops up in my face.

 **Your inventory currently includes "Notebook Paper" and "Pencil." Would you like to export to your inventory using these items?**

"…Yeah, sure, whatever."

 **Export complete!**

My eyebrow twitched again.

"Inventory."

As the box opens, I scan the contents. There at the bottom is a new item simply named "Really!?"

I grab it and pull.

A single sheet of paper is in my hand. On it, written in pencil and _bizarrely_ in my own handwriting is the word "Really?"

…I don't know what I'm supposed to feel right now.

On one hand, it's convenient…

On the other, it feels absurd…

I mean RPGs have journal systems, and there were a few obscure games in my research that involved players being able to make their own notes...

To export it as an actual item into my inventory though…it's less of an RPG mechanic and more of something else.

Something was tickling a memory in my head. Something that Greg said once, about games where the character could do almost anything….

Something about box sand?

…Whatever.

So, what would I want to import into here?

I think only for a few seconds on that question, before I get an _idea._

I go back to the notes section of my menu's journal. The note is still there, which I promptly delete, and I'm still holding the exported copy in my hand. So it just copies the information rather than cutting.

Good to know.

I stare back at my inventory. There are a few things I felt I should leave in my pocket dimension when I was playing with it earlier this morning, just for security.

I look at two of my notebooks, specifically one that details the heinous actions of a particularly set of bitches since September, as well as the one that I've been writing down notes about my powers in.

Within minutes, I'm leafing through my bully notebook _through_ my power's journal system, specifically as a copy that can _never_ mysteriously disappear or get ruined.

I stare at the box that popped up as soon as I hit the import button.

 **For a prudent course of action, your intelligence has increased by 1.**

Oh, fuck the _hell_ yes.

It doesn't take me much longer to round up a few more notebooks and a few binders with printer paper to shove into my inventory as fuel for the newest aspect of my powers. I also nab an extra ink cartridge for the old printer we have downstairs.

As I poke export and select my newly named "Bully Journal" note, I'm once again confronted with a box. A few pokes, and I've switched an option from pencil to printer ink.

A minute later, I'm leafing through a binder that's a complete copy of the bully journal in my inventory.

I'll just need to add a copy of the police report and my hospital records for the cherry on top. Once I have a…

I pause. Would it be considered a digital copy? I mean, it's essentially a digital copy in terms of function. I can't upload into a computer necessarily, but this is honestly a better alternative.

I'll worry about terminology later. The important thing is I'll be gathering all the evidence I have or can get my hands on and then I can sort it into my journal here, and then I'll print out a few _more_ copies.

Whatever I decide to do with it then, I'll have multiple copies to do it with. I don't have to worry about my journal mysteriously disappearing on me if I take it to school now. The best part too is it looks like I copied it the mundane way!

I look at the other notebook I imported into my journal. From now on, I can also take notes of my powers …with my powers.

I snort.

My inventory and journal can work together to become an invisible mobile word processor, printer, and scanner.

Not only do I have super powered naps, apparently I have super powers geared towards office work.

All I'm missing is a mobile cubicle…

A few more snorts escape my lungs.

My power has a lot of quirks to it, what's _one_ _more_?

Continuing on, I take a look at the last few sections: Statistics, Log, and Reputation.

For the most part, they're not that interesting.

Statistics has a few numbers written out for me, but they're rather boring. The number of steps I've taken since I've gained my powers, the amount of skills I have, my current "favorite" skill based on use, and other minutia.

The only interesting stats are the ones that I have zeros in. Number of crimes stopped, number of gang members incapacitated, and so on.

There's also…a few disturbing ones that I don't plan on padding any time soon: number of people killed, number of people _eaten_ , and a whole slew of nightmarish phrases.

I shudder.

Yeah, I could do without seeing some of those. I did not need my power to give me a kill counter.

Next, the log option has two boxes. A chat log and a message log. The chat was empty, and likely has something to do with my party feature. Again, something to explore when I actually have someone I can talk to about my powers.

The other one just had a copy of all of my previous pop-ups with convenient time stamps. Specifically, when I leveled up, for whatever reason I gained an attribute point, and so on. Basically, if I accidentally close out a box too soon, I can just check what I missed here.

Reputation was next. It only has one entry, and…while hurtful, it's something I already knew.

 **Winslow High: Social Pariah**

Reputation is going to be incredibly useful down the line. If this includes public perception or even just my reputation with the PRT or the gangs, it'll let me know how widely known I am as well as how I'm perceived.

Right now, it's just a painful reminder.

Finished with my journal, I close it out and move on.

"Options."

A blue box with three tabs at the top appears.

The current tab, gameplay, is already selected, with its options displayed below it.

 **Gore: On**

 **Survival: Off**

 **Controls: Vocal Only**

 **Notifications: On**

 **Dungeon Entry: Auto**

Gore?

As in…blood and guts gore?

I tap on the word to see if I'll get a description.

 **The gore setting determines if the Gamer's body will show injuries when they take damage.**

Huh? So if it's…off, I just won't bleed?

Okay, that's…odd. I might find a use for it later, but I'll keep it on for now. It sounds like an easy way to out myself honestly.

What about survival?

 **The survival setting determines if the Gamer requires maintaining their body with food, water, and sleep, while also requiring the performance of other mandatory biological functions.**

Well…I don't need to worry about testing my need to sleep or eat anymore.

It's nice to know it's spelled out for me. I can do so much with those extra hours, and it's not like I can't eat or drink right now if I want to.

Yeah, I'm keeping that off. There's just no real reason to turn that on at the moment.

I tap on the next option.

 **The control setting determines how the Gamer interfaces with their menu and skills.**

I immediately see what other choices I have for my controls.

 **-Vocal Only-  
-Mental Only-  
-Vocal and Mental-**

Yeah, I'll go with voice and mental here, please. I poke the choice with an ever growing grin.

Alright, how does this work?

So, if I just think inventory will it pop up?

…

No…

Inventory.

A familiar window filled with all my stuff pops up in front of me.

Close.

The window disappears.

Okay, I think I've got the concept.

For a few minutes, I test saying and thinking several of the words that activate my powers. If I use the word out loud or in thought without the intent of using my powers, nothing happens. If I have the intent to use it though, even if I use it in a sentence, it'll activate.

This is going to make using my powers a _whole lot_ easier.

The next option was obviously about my pop-ups. A poke later confirmed that. I checked over my options of what I could set it to.

 **-On-  
-Off-  
-Noncombat Only-**

For now, I leave it as is. If I get annoyed by my boxes, I'll turn it off, but right now, they kind of cheer me up.

As for how they'll work in combat…I'll deal with that later. If it gets in my way, I should be able to just think "exit" for them to disappear, but if something vital pops up, I'll need to know what it says.

Aaaand then there was one. I tap on Dungeon Entry.

 **The Dungeon Entry setting determines if the Gamer will enter Instant Dungeons they come across manually or automatically.**

I scratch the top of my head. Okay, what's an instant dungeon?

Unfortunately, tapping on the words instant dungeon in the description box does not tell me what it is.

Hmm, what should I do?

If I choose manually, I should get a prompt on what to do when the issue comes up. At least, I would assume that would be the case.

With a shrug of my shoulders, I switch the setting to manual.

The other two tabs left to explore in options are video and sound.

Neither had much to offer. I didn't really want to tweak how bright I saw the world or the volume of what I heard.

It's not like I'd ever need a hearing aid with my super naps, and my eyesight's already better than it's ever been.

Effectively, it did mean I could decide whenever I wanted to be practically blind or deaf. However, I'm not sure what situation would call for me to do that, beyond maybe doing a perfect Helen Keller impression…

It was comfortable knowing that there was a reset to default button on both pages after playing with a few of the settings.

There was a subtitle setting in the sound tab that I might explore at a later date. There wasn't much I could do with it right now all by myself, but if it translates other languages or lets me read what people say at a distance, it could be something I could use in a few niche situations.

Alright, last sub-section of my menu.

Extras.

A blue box materializes in front of me.

 **Extras**

 **-Skins-  
-Achievements-**

 **S** kins? What are skins? Throughout all my research on RPGs, I don't recall reading anything about skins.

Okay…skins.

A box appears with the title Skins at the top. I poke the name to see if I'll get an explanation.

 **Skins are cosmetic extras that have no affect on the Gamer's attributes, skills, perks, etc. and only affect their physical appearance.**

So, these things change my appearance?

That should be really helpful for keeping a secret identity.

There was only one skin available right now.

 **Beanpole** :  
 **The Gamer's appearance the moment they gained the Gamer power.**

Right by it, was a 3D model of me in all my bipedal frog-like glory.

With a small sigh of frustration, I think about the benefits.

It's currently not equipped, so it seems to me to be an implication that my body's going to change as my physical attributes do.

Maybe if I boost my strength and vitality up, I'll suddenly have muscles...

I glanced down at my chest.

...or something.

Okay.

This is perfect for hiding those changes…despite the name. While accurate, it does annoy me.

…I'm also pretty sure this is a Changer power.

...

…Or would it be Breaker?

...

Again, I really need to check the whole classification thing.

I move on to the last part of my menu, achievements.

Like titles and perks before it, an empty box stares back at me.

I guess it's something I'll earn later on.

Achievements are pretty much the video game equivalent of merit badges from what I know off the top of my head.

So, besides my powers patting me on the back, I don't really see the point of it.

I mean, pats on the back _are_ nice, but beyond morale support, I don't see a practical purpose for it.

 _Maybe_ I'll get experience points out of it? That might make it worth something.

It's not like I can do anything with it now. Unlike most games, my achievement system doesn't even tell me how I unlock them.

Then again, I'm not beholden to a plot or specific actions in a game. An achievement for me could be anything really.

I shake my head. It's something to worry about when I actually get a notification for it.

Alright, step one finally done.

I close out my menus, and take a look at the nearest clock.

It's only been thirty minutes since Dad left.

Okay, time to hit some books.


	7. Chapter 7

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 7

 _Okay, time to hit some books._

Where do I start?

Well, I think the obvious question here is what constitutes a skill book?

Obviously, it's a book that teaches a skill, but nothing power wise happened with all the books in my room.

Considering I observed them all including my school textbooks and nothing jumped out at me in the description, that's a dead end.

Then again, there's not much of a skill to learn from just reading fiction. The only school books I looked through were literature, history, and biology, and those aren't about practical skills either. Of course, those were from last semester. I still didn't have my books from this semester considering how my first day went…

…and I totally ignored the idea of asking Dad to pick them up for makeup work.

I mean the Doctor's excuse would cover any missing grades, but I'd still be behind everyone else, and sure I have a freaking intelligence stat now that I've already raised several times that'll probably make school easier, and considering all the advantages my powers give me, I'll probably be able to excel again and the bullies can just go fu-

I shake my head.

Not _important_ , Taylor _._ _Focus_.

I take a deep breath.

Okay, are there any books that I have seen or touched since I've had my powers that directly teach the person reading it a skill?

I think back to my personal library. Most of it, of course, was for leisure reading, not something that was actually practical in terms of something I could use every day.

Yeah, none of it would fit the bill.

Let's step back a bit.

Until I know how my powers interact with books, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.

Skill books all differ mechanically from game to game.

I start pacing back and forth between the kitchen and living room.

Okay…if I'm not sure what books qualify for skill books, I should just move on to a different type of reading material that my powers possibly could interact with in a similar fashion.

Alright, let's follow the gaming logic.

Right now I have a cooking skill.

Cooking is a crafting skill.

Crafting skills need recipes.

Game characters can just add recipes they grab into…well, not _their_ brain, but the pool of recipes the player can use.

While I started out with a good set of recipes in my noggin with just the skill, and I'll probably be able to pick up more as the skill progresses, I should also be able to grab cook books, and just add their recipes to my brain directly.

…Assuming that game logic works out with how my powers work.

I stop pacing, and head to the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the kitchen doesn't have a huge library of cookbooks. The Hebert house is small so we don't really have the room for a bookshelf to cram cookbooks into.

There's about maybe a dozen cookbooks in a single pull-out drawer, and _that's_ it.

I still remember being shocked at seeing the several dozen, if not over a hundred, cookbooks in the Barnes' kitchen. Their house was always bigger than ours…

I sighed.

Not helping.

With a slight pull, the drawer I was looking for slides out with ease.

All of the books were stored with their spines facing up, so I could easily see which book was which.

I glance over them, deciding on which one to test with. In some games, the books used like this are unfortunately destroyed. So, I definitely do not want to accidentally destroy anything of sentimental value or something that Dad uses constantly.

So, I need something safe to test.

The best one to me looks like the _Betty Crocker Cookbook_ copy we have. It's mass produced and likely something I can replace easily down the line. As a plus, Dad doesn't use it that much.

Sure, I could probably use my journal system here to save me the grief if my powers do destroy it on use. I probably could just import it into notes, and assuming that doesn't actually _use_ it like storing something inside an inventory; I could export a copy then use that for the test, but…

I check my inventory, and wince a little.

…I already used a good fat bit of the printer ink I already owe Dad. Printing out my own notes is one thing; printing out a book like this would probably run me dry and make me need to grab another cartridge…or several.

At that point, the book is _literally_ cheaper to replace than the ink I have.

I'm pretty sure I don't have the pencils or pens for a job like that either.

It's a good idea though for later, but only if my power actually _destroy_ books in the process…which knowing me means they probably will.

My fingers are crossed that they don't though. Because honestly, as a book lover I'd feel _extremely_ obligated to hate myself just a little bit for every book my power destroyed.

Alright, it's the moment of truth.

I grab it by the spine and pull it…oh, hi box.

 **This is a recipe book, [** _ **Betty Crocker Cookbook**_ _ **10**_ _ **th**_ _ **edition**_ **].  
Do you want to learn these recipes?  
[Yes] [No] **

With a short inhale and exhale, I tap on yes.

There's an explosion of light, and the room is fully illuminated like the Sun decided to pop in for a visit.

Then I realize it's not the Sun being cordial, it's _me_ and the book.

Both I and the book are glowing.

Suddenly, the book I'm holding _disintegrates_ piece by piece in to motes of light that fly into _my brain_ and I start to glow even brighter. After a few seconds, the book is gone, and I have a thousand new recipes in my head.

I blink a few times as the light finally dissipates.

…Well.

I nod to myself.

…That just happened.

So if I wanted to make homemade grav-

Before I can finish the thought, step by step instructions for gravy filled my head, as well as the needed ingredients.

Okay, what about homemade ap-

Again, a recipe was in my head as if I photocopied the book to my brain, this time for apple pie.

I smiled.

This is so neat!

I looked down at my empty hand, where moments ago a book was held.

My smile froze, and then slid off my face into a frown.

Oh, wait…

….

…aaaand there's the tiny minuscule sliver of self-hatred.

I did not miss you.

* * *

So…when I use a book like this, basically, I _eat_ the book. Sure, using that term is a bit _creepy_ , but it really is the best word that fits with what happens. Destroy implies that's something is just gone without any bright side or benefit, and I definitely am _not_ destroying books here. I grab the book, there's a lightshow, the book disappears, and suddenly all the knowledge is in my brain.

I consume the book and subsume its knowledge, just like eating food and digesting it for nutrients.

…Basically, thinking about it this way makes me feel a bit better rather than outright thinking I destroy books.

Yeah, mental gymnastics and all, but it works!

After the foray with the first book, I decided to test observe on the other ones. Lo and behold, observe told me explicitly they were classified as recipe books.

So, knowing that observe was definitely pulling its weight here, I decided to look through all the books we had in the house and observe them one by one.

It took roughly an hour for my hunt to conclude.

I even searched through boxes that held my mother's possessions in the basement and upstairs closet, after only a brief hesitation at the idea.

Considering my late mother was both an English professor at the local college and a bookworm, it's surprising it didn't take me longer, even with the size of our house working for me and observe telling me outright what books counted and which ones didn't.

 _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ for example had nothing to do with Zen or motorcycle maintenance.

Go figure.

Unfortunately, after all my hunting, I didn't find much. The biggest jackpot was simply all the cookbooks we had, and a good chunk of those were off limits for now. I did get a level of observe out of it, so that's a plus.

So, on one hand, I had two recipe books that would benefit my cooking skill, not including the one I already gobbled...which funnily enough did have a lot of thanksgiving recipes.

I shook my head.

On the other hand, I had two skill books.

Oh, and I did find one atlas…

…Which I don't have a third hand for.

Okay, that idiom just died. Moving on!

All six of them sat in front of me on the floor of the upstairs windowless bathroom. With the door closed and a towel blocking the bottom, there should be no way for someone to possibly see a strange flash of light coming from my house. I do not want to risk outing myself here.

Hopefully nobody caught the first one, but I'd be stupid to risk doing something like that consecutively downstairs in an open room.

A simple flashing light could be excused…probably, but when I eat a book, it's almost like Flashbang himself is trying to emulate the fourth of freaking July _inside of my house_. It's really not worth risking it.

So, I had two recipe books on hand. One that was specifically for baking, particularly focused on cookies, and another that was focused towards lunches.

They were definitely something I could grind cooking with and stuff my inventory full of goodies. Beyond the obvious healing benefits and even lacking the need to eat, the inventory was just too big of a tease as the perfect snack pouch. Besides, it's not like I could stuff the fridge full every time I decided to grind that skill.

I would need to get more groceries though…and double check to see if food went bad in a pocket dimension…but I digress.

In two flashes of light, both books were gone and their contents were firmly in my head.

Ooh, I can make _snickerdoodles_ later…

Next, I had the atlas, which specifically was a map of the continental US. Unfortunately, it was a bit old and lacked some of the newer quarantine zones, like Madison. It was a sad thing to see included in a map, but it was practical. Even if I didn't plan on leaving Brockton Bay anytime soon, it was too convenient not to do this now.

It's not like our family goes on road trips anymore.

 **This is a map collection [** _ **Road Atlas: Large Scale**_ **].  
Do you want to add these maps to your Journal?  
[Yes] [No] **

Another poke, another flash of light, and I now had a map of every state in the US whenever I needed them. It might not give me an in-depth map of cities like I have of the Bay, but I can work on that later.

Then, there was the glorious meat of today: books that actually will just _give me_ skills.

I was really giddy about this.

The first one I found was a small handy-man guide to household repair that would give me a modest repair skill.

Dad might miss it unfortunately, but he hasn't had the time, money, or even the will to really use it. Our front yard's rotten porch step can attest to that. I think he left a replacement board in the basement, but it's been there for months really.

I can always buy him a new handyman book later anyways.

Poke.

 **You learned the Repair skill!**

 **[Repair (passive) Lv1 EXP: 00.00%]  
A skill using spare materials to repair broken  
and damaged objects. With more mastery,  
more complicated and sophisticated objects  
can be repaired. The Repair skill also receives  
a bonus based on crafting knowledge.  
Currently allows the repair of [common] objects.  
5% increase in Repair speed.**

Just like with my cooking skill, my brain is now host to new information; information that felt as if it was accumulated for years rather than a few seconds. I knew it all from the correct method to repair a leaky pipe to the best way to fix a jammed door.

The sheer joy I felt, at just…knowing how to do all these things, kept me standing there and smiling for a minute. It was different than just recipes. With recipes, it was…flat. It was information that was nice to know, sure, but the only real excitement there was from knowing what I could create. With skills however, it was like a whole new aspect of my life just blossomed into being.

What felt like years of experience gained in mere seconds…it was such a _rush_!

Yeah, a book was destroyed…there I said it…and I feel a little sad about that, but if this experience keeps happening, I might end up addicted. There was no way I was going to feel sad about this a dozen books from now.

Eating books like this was…Reading 2.0!

Ten out of ten, would eat books again.

…Hey, I could probably take care of the front porch by myself!

A box appeared in my face.

…And I have a quest for it too!

First things first though…

I turned to the next paperback victim.

The one I couldn't eat.

This one was special.

The second skill book was a first aid handbook, tucked away in one of my mother's boxes. It, of course, would give me the first aid skill, something that I definitely felt I needed before I ever started my hero career.

If I could do something to help someone with an injury, or just stabilize them before the ambulance could get there, it could help save lives.

Note to self, I need to grab first aid supplies for my inventory. I may not need it, but others will.

Considering what city we lived in, at first I was surprised Dad didn't have something like this near the bandages in the bathroom.

Then, I saw the small dried up blood stains on the cover.

Morbidly, observe even told me they were from _Dad_.

I'd _need_ to ask Dad what that was about.

Hopefully, it would just be part of a funny little anecdote. There's not that much blood, but at the moment, I just don't know. It could be back from when Dad met Mom in college, after they got the house, or even later. Only Dad and…Mom would really know.

So, eating it was _completely_ _off_ the table.

I grab the book, and press it into my inventory.

A few bouts of menu hopping later, I attempt to import it into my journal.

 **Unsupported Media**

…What?

I try again.

 **Unsupported Media**

…Okay.

Let's try something else.

A minute later, I have a copy of Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_ in my inventory. I try to import it.

 **Unsupported Media**

…Alright then.

I guess it just won't work for books then. I scratch the top of my head in bewilderment. I'm not sure why though.

I really doubt it's because my powers have a sense of copyright. Could it just be that if it's not a note or something I personally wrote it just won't work?

The email printouts in my notebook were accepted just fine though…so there is _some_ leeway there.

…Well, there's another limit I'll need to test later.

I close down my menu and take the book out of my inventory.

 **This is a skill book [** _ **The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook**_ **].  
Do you want to learn this skill?  
[Yes] [No] **

This a book Mom used to help bandage Dad up from…something. There's a reason Mom still had this from whenever and Dad still kept it to this day.

I take a deep breath, before hitting no.

It's too special for me to do that to it, especially without Dad's input.

So…option two then.

If I can't, or more precisely, won't eat it, will reading it the long way still give me the skill?

Well, _my_ long way at least. Thank you speed reading.

I flip to the back of the book. It's almost four hundred pages, index included…

I take a look at the nearest clock for the time.

Nine fifty-seven AM.

Honestly, I have plenty of time today. It might be a bit boring, but I do have speed reading as a skill.

Let's see what happens.

I take the time to sit down on the couch in the living room. After I get comfortable, I open the book to the first page, and I start to read.

* * *

 **Your "Speed Reading" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Your "Speed Reading" skill has increased by 1!**

 **For continuous study, your intelligence has increased by 1.**

 **Your "Speed Reading" skill has increased by 1!**

 **You have read the skill book [** _ **The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook**_ **].  
You learned the First Aid skill!**

 **[First Aid (passive) Lv1 EXP: 00.00%]  
A skill used to heal minor wounds and  
stabilize the critically wounded. With more  
mastery, more complicated wounds and  
physical status effects can be treated or  
stabilized. Under your care, a patient will  
regain 1 HP per 5 minutes, as long as they  
have more than zero health and less than half. **

* * *

I close the book with a big fat happy smile.

Unlike the instant rush of knowledge when I ate the other books, this time it's like…all the knowledge I had read up to this point had just _clicked_ into place, and if I had a far greater understanding of it. Some spots were filled in with a few tidbits of missing knowledge, but the book itself was very comprehensive and covered a great deal.

I know now exactly how it feels to know something from just memorizing it to it transforming into a skill you've practiced again and again until it becomes second nature, in the span of seconds.

Reading the old way like this with skill books is wonderful too. It's nice to know I can appreciate both methods. They're both… _novel_ experiences.

I giggle.

Though reading at over ten thousand words per minute was…weird. It was fun, but just weird. I could just glance and read an entire paragraph in a single second.

That's something I'll need to get used to. At this rate, I'll need to be careful when I read books in public.

I look up at a nearby clock.

Twelve Forty-Two PM.

 _Not_ _bad_. Speed reading is freaking awesome. Reading power is best power after all.

I look down at my hands.

The book is still there and has not disintegrated either.

This is definitively a success for book lovers everywhere.

I even gained a few more levels in Speed Reading and boosted my intelligence by a point. So, I might just do this later for the possible attribute boost, even if I could get away with the book munching.

It probably would be best to just use this with skill books I pickup from the library though, just to be more efficient. If I can't eat them since they're on loan, it makes the most sense to spend speed reading on them rather than books I could just eat.

I can always eat books I buy from a used book stand at the market, or some book store at the mall.

With a content expression, I move to put the book back with the rest of mom's things and clean up a little after my book hunt.

I'll need to remember to ask Dad about that whole…blood thing later.

With that done, it's time for me to work on a practical combat skill.

For a few moments, I resumed my patrol between the kitchen and living room, thinking on what to do.

Everything I've done to create a skill, that wasn't from a book, has been based on doing something and focusing especially on what I'm doing.

When I learned the cooking skill, I was focused on dinner. When it was observe, I was focused on figuring out what Dad was thinking by looking at his facial expressions, and so on.

That focus on whatever I was doing was really important.

So…I look down at my hands as I balled them into fists.

Let's keep this simple.

Being a superhero means it is very likely I'm going to be punching someone.

While…cliché and, honestly, kind of sad, that's probably what's going to happen.

The Sun rises and sets. The Earth rotates and revolves.

…and most heroic capes, like say Alexandria, punch criminals.

It's just the way things are.

Sure, I could probably find a better method down the line, but who am I to disagree with the classics?

Well, punching people is a skill.

I'll worry about working on something a bit more complicated later, but as long as I have my hands, I'll be able to punch something…

…And given how my powers work, I kind of want to be able to punch things really, really well.

If I need to practice on punching, I need to either hit something, or _pretend_ I'm hitting something…or someone.

Because the skill itself is about punching, _not_ actually hitting necessarily with the punch.

I think the proper term is shadow-boxing, but I'm not entirely sure.

I stop my pacing and stand in the living room where I have the most space.

I raise my fists up in some sort of guard, trying to mimic what I've seen on TV…and I'm pretty confident I'm doing it completely wrong.

Anyways, I focus and imagine someone standing in front of me.

Someone I will feel absolutely no remorse for shoving my fists into their bitchy imaginary face.

Why hello, Sophia!

I see her in my head, standing there, looking at me with that unfriendly smile, and those eyes inspecting me like I'm something beneath her, something less…something worthless.

I feel a slight muted pain. I'm not sure where it is at, but I can tell Gamer's Mind is at work.

I punch out once, and imagine my fist hitting her right in her smug prick _face_.

As I do, I can't help but imagine all the times she's hurt me.

I think about her pushing me in the stairwell dozens of times.

I punch again.

I think about her cruel smile every time Emma cuts me down.

...And again…

I think about her stealing Emma way back when this all started.

…And again.

I think about the locker…

Soon enough, I stop thinking completely, and I just keep punching…all with a smile on my face.

* * *

 **A skill has been created through a special action.**

 **Through practicing hand to hand combat, a skill to fight without a weapon, "Unarmed Combat Mastery", has been created!**

 **[Unarmed Combat Mastery (passive) Lv1 EXP: 00.00%]  
A skill used to understand how to fight without weapons.  
10% increase in attack damage with unarmed strikes.  
5% increase in attack speed with unarmed strikes.  
Due to understanding the basics of hand-to-hand combat,  
you learn styles of martial arts 2% faster.**

 **Your "Unarmed Combat Mastery" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Your "Unarmed Combat Mastery" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Your "Unarmed Combat Mastery" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Your "Unarmed Combat Mastery" skill has increased by 1!**

 **For continuous exertion, your vitality has increased by 1.**

* * *

Slowly, I slump to the ground onto my back, utterly exhausted, greedily gulping down air as if breathing was going out of style.

I was completely covered in sweat and a few sniffs told me how much I needed a shower.

I glance over at the clock.

Two thirty-seven PM.

I laugh a bit to myself.

I went a _teensy_ bit overboard trying to punch an imaginary Sophia.

I wasn't actually tired in an "I need to sleep" sense, but more in "I don't want to _move right_ _now_ " sense.

It really is weird to feel…physically exhausted, and not have the normal aches that come with it either. I've been driven to this state of exhaustion before in gym last semester and the year before last on a few occasions, but they came with aches and pains that I generally still had the next day.

Now though, I don't feel any pain whatsoever.

It's weird, but nice.

I stare at my boxes.

Not only do I have a new skill, I found a way to actually level it without getting into a fight. I didn't think shadow-boxing would give me such a work-out either to boost my vitality.

After I created my new skill, I just shifted. I kept my weight properly distributed between both of my legs. I knew the proper way to make a fist. I knew where to hit for a knockout, and on and on.

I even pulled off a few kicks I suddenly knew.

There wasn't a fighting style in my head or anything. So it wasn't like I knew MMA or anything. I didn't know any real stances or forms to move through. I just knew an assortment of techniques really well that I could use to defend myself.

As time passed and my skill gained levels, my moves just felt…more substantial and I felt like I was even throwing my punches and the odd kick faster.

The vitality boost was great too. I now know I just have to work myself to exhaustion and try to keep going in order to level it.

Maybe I should take up running or something?

I check my skill and let out a short whistle.

Well, it was more of an exhale of air than a whistle due to my exhaustion, _but_ it was close enough.

Level five of Unarmed Combat mastery netted me a thirty percent increase in attack damage, fifteen percent increase in attack speed, and a ten percent faster learning rate for martial arts.

Yeah, I was going to spend _a lot_ of time leveling this up in the near future.

Still exhausted, I stare up into the ceiling.

I had roughly four hours and some change left to my day before Dad got home.

Since I did promise Lasagna (oh hi dinner quest) and I did want to use my new repair skill on the front porch's broken step, that gave me roughly three hours to grind something.

…

Maybe when I feel like moving though…

* * *

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly.

My physical exhaustion was apparently based on vitality, from what I gathered.

After about thirty minutes of resting after my shadowboxing workout, my exhaustion just…disappeared as if someone just flipped a switch. One moment, I didn't feel like moving at all, the next, I was completely refreshed and ready to go.

I still stink from all the sweat of course, but otherwise, I was ready to exercise again.

That was amazing.

Honestly though, it feels like I should have a stamina bar or something given how it seems to work. Since I don't…at least, not that I know of, would physical exhaustion perhaps be a physical status effect I can check later?

Since I had extra time to grind, I dabbled with a few ideas on how to increase strength and dexterity. Since leveling vitality was basically working on my stamina, any method that worked me physically could boost it. So if I found a method to exercise strength or dexterity that exhausted me, I could level two physical stats at once and also check for a status effect.

Those two and luck were the last three attributes I haven't managed to level yet too.

I had a fairly good idea on how to level with luck and strength, but dexterity was something I had to spend more time on.

First, I did what I thought was most obvious.

For about an hour, I did nothing but push-ups.

Before my powers…I could do at least…ten in a row, and that's me being generous.

Now, I just kept going and going. I lost count after two-hundred and seven…

As long as I have stamina, I could just keep doing whatever really, and only forced to really stop once I ran out.

It's definite proof that my muscles, like the rest of my body, don't work like normal anymore.

That…ridiculous workout netted me two points in strength, and when I kept going, a point in vitality.

Again, for about thirty minutes, I had to rest, my back to the floor, and me swallowing the air like a vacuum.

A check to my stats confirmed exhaustion was a status effect called fatigue.

Fatigue popped up to the left side of my stats in its own little menu titled status effects. I guess if I'm not under the effects of one, that box just doesn't appear.

The box was like my skills with their own little cartoon icons. Fatigue just showed a cartoon me slightly hunched over from the front: my face red and sweaty, my eyes obscured behind my hair, and steam and stink just wafting off of me.

A poke at the icon gave me the run down.

 **[Fatigue (physical) Duration: 27m 41s]  
Exhaustion from physical exertion exceeding  
the body's stamina.  
For the duration of Fatigue:  
-75% reduction to physical skill ability and gains.  
-50% reduction to strength and dexterity.**

Ouch…

Okay then, so if my stamina is boosted by my vitality, then raising my vitality would naturally limit how fast I get fatigue.

…but I have to actually work myself to fatigue to boost my vitality? Or at least, a good bit towards fatigue?

Well, that's diminishing returns at work there. I guess at a certain point I'll just have to find a way to exert myself more and more the easier certain activities get. If my stamina increases…I'm guessing how fast my stamina regenerates is included too.

It also will dictate how long I can grind a physical skill before I'm forced to rest. So, it's definitely a limiting factor in that respect.

…Ugh, but what is my actual stamina?

A blue box pops up with information answering that very question.

 **Stamina is a stat that oversees physical exertion. All physical skills and actions deplete stamina by a certain minuscule amount that builds up over time. If Stamina is depleted, fatigue will set in. Fatigue's duration is based on the amount of time it would take stamina to be regenerated from zero to full.**

 **The Gamer's total Stamina is equivalent to total Health. Stamina regenerates at twice the rate health regenerates at, but Stamina can only regenerate when the body is not overly exerting itself.**

Oh, neat. Guess I was projecting there a bit.

Close.

So I do have a stamina bar, it's just tied into my health? Interesting…but is there a way for me to actually see what my stamina is at?

Stamina.

A blue box with a nearly empty green bar pops up. Currently, it was at twenty-eight point seven and climbing to a max of two-hundred and forty. Guess those vitality points did raise my health a fair bit.

…Wait, what about my other stats?

Health.

A blue box with a full red bar appears, at its expected maximum value of two-hundred and forty.

Mana.

Another box with a full blue bar appears, at a maximum value of four-hundred and twenty.

I whistle a bit. Well, I try. It's still more of an exhale than a proper whistle, but I'm tired and don't care.

Mana _went_ up a _good_ bit.

It's nice to know I have a shortcut to individual stats like this, but I'm still wondering why stamina isn't a part of the normal stat screen.

It's something I'll have to work out later. I just started using it, so maybe I just missed something.

Given how important Stamina is to me, and the fact I don't want to ever experience fatigue while I'm caping, I will need to work on my vitality for the next few days. It mainly increases health too…which is even more important than just stamina, so it would be a very good stat for me to focus on.

I sit down and rest on the couch while my fatigue counts down. Even with the reduction, I could probably try and grind a skill, but I just don't feel like moving right now.

…it's kind of funny when I think about it. I should have read my books _now_ rather than take care of it first. With these thirty minute breaks, I could have used my time better doing that.

Oh, well, hindsight is twenty-twenty. Not like I knew stamina was a stat or fatigue was a status effect before now. At least I'll know what to do when I loan a few books from the library. I'll read what I can when I'm too tired to move, and exercise when I can move.

Time passed and my fatigue finally vanished. With only about an hour left before I had to focus on dinner and the front porch, I attempted to level dexterity.

Since my reflexes were tied a bit into dexterity, I tried flipping a coin in the air and just catching it when it fell back down.

After about forty minutes of doing nothing but that, I actually got a point out of it.

It wasn't the best way to do it, but hey, it worked.

I'd probably need to buy a few tennis balls and try to juggle to train it faster, or just research on a better idea.

Dodge ball would probably be a good idea for building dexterity, but unfortunately, gym was last semester.

I'll figure out something later.

With time winding down, I focused on the last two things I wanted to work on before Dad got home.

The front step was replaced in about thirty minutes, which netted me about half a level in repair and an easy two hundred and fifty experience points. Dad had nails and a hammer by the replacement plank in the basement, so it was easy gathering everything I needed. I did accidentally hammer my thumb though, so I'm slightly embarrassed by that.

I even lost a health point, which when I thought about it was kind of scary.

It's a bit sobering to see your mortality in clear numbers. If I actually hit my thumb like that a few hundred times, would I _actually_ die from it?

 _Yeah_ , I'm definitely going to focus on vitality for the next few days.

The weird bit was that after the brief crushing pain I felt for about a second, I felt nothing. The pain just…vanished. My thumb didn't even swell or bruise. It was just slightly red for half a minute, and then poof, back to normal.

Even with the whole… _gore_ …thing turned on in my menu, it seems my body doesn't exactly react to injury normally anymore. I know I regenerate my health, but I still expected…I don't know, feeling the pain from my power regenerating a broken bone or something.

But no, I didn't even feel anything really.

I'll need to look into that more later, but I have no idea how I can do that without hurting myself.

I mean, I technically regenerate, sure, but I don't want to test how my body works through… _self-mutilation._

…

I shivered a bit at the thought.

After the porch, I focused on making dinner.

* * *

In no time at all, it was finished. The Lasagna was already done and just being kept warm in the oven, and the rest of dinner was waiting nearby on the counter and stove. My cooking skill got a point for that.

…I did try my hand at a pie…but…apparently the more complex a dish is the more chance I have at botching it with my current level of skill.

…I don't even know how I managed to both burn and under cook it…

I really should have made snickerdoodles…

Oh, well, there's always next time.

The remains of the disaster pie were currently in my inventory.

If there's anything I'm getting out of this pie, besides knowing how spectacularly I can fail in the kitchen, its knowing what happens to food after a few days or even a week in my inventory.

If a RPG character can place cold milk in their inventory and have it still be good five months later, then maybe mine will work in a similar fashion.

It's not long before I hear the sound of a car pulling up on our driveway.

* * *

Dinner went by with a much happier atmosphere than normal.

Dad was in such a great mood too. What I said to him this morning must have meant a lot to him.

My work out front did go unnoticed, but considering how long Dad was in the habit of just stepping over the rotten plank, I couldn't blame him. Not to mention it was already dark out and our dinky front porch light wouldn't exactly illuminate it for him.

I didn't want him to feel bad about it either, so I'll just wait and see how long it'll take for him to notice.

The conversation we had went relatively smoothly for us.

He complimented me on my Lasagna, asking did I do anything new with it. I answered that I tried a new mix of seasoning in the meat and asked him about his day. He told me a bit excitedly about the union coming into some prospective work for Fortress Construction, and then asked me what I did during my day. I told him I read a few books, exercised a little, and rested a bit.

We both just kept talking like that.

I liked it. I liked it a lot.

We were still a little awkward here and there, but it was a _happy_ awkward, not a sad one…

…If that makes any sense.

I wasn't ready to talk to him just yet about…everything, but the strain between us had lessened.

After dinner, I convinced Dad I could take care of the kitchen, and told him he could relax in the living room.

While Dad watched TV, I spent my time cleaning up. I could tell washing things by hand went by just a tad bit faster, and it even earned me another level in dish washing.

With that done, I spent the rest of the night spending time with Dad.

* * *

After we said goodnight to each other, and Dad went to sleep, I had roughly eight or so hours of free time to train something.

As long as I was quiet, and didn't wake up Dad that is.

Given how important it was to me, I decided that tonight, I'd work on vitality, and as a side benefit, strength.

I'd worry about my unarmed skill training later, and I'd work on figuring out how to use my mana probably tomorrow night.

A single hour of push-ups gave me three attribute points. If I spent the whole night working out like that, how far could I get?

I laughed quietly to myself. I'm really going to spend eight hours doing nothing but push-ups and sit-ups, and I'm actually excited about doing it.

It's funny how priorities change when you get super powers….

With a sigh, I dropped to my bedroom floor, my hands out wide, and I started to push my body weight up and down again and again and again…

* * *

 **Strength +8**

 **Vitality +5**

 **Speed Reading +3**

* * *

At about six-thirty in the morning as sunlight drifted into my room, I called it quits.

Even covered in sweat and smelling as I did, I couldn't keep the beaming smile off my face.

…I really thought it would be boring working out for hours on end and that it would be this massive chore, but once I got into it, time just swam right past me….

When I saw a notification that my strength or vitality had gone up; I was motivated into exercising more and more. Because I knew what I was doing was having a positive impact on me right then and there. When you have immediate gratification like that, physical exercise is just a lot more tantalizing.

Even the down time wasn't that boring. This time when my fatigue kicked in, I had the books in my room to read while I waited it out, and I even raised speed reading a few times. I even finished three different books in the span of two and a half hours.

Again, that was going to take getting used to.

…I'm pretty sure I also did more push-ups and sit-ups yesterday than the rest of Winslow's student body did last semester _combined_ …

The bright side here is when I have to go through the Alexandria Fitness Challenge course next year as a part of our physical education; I'm going to pass _with flying colors_. Like so much flying color, people will think I'm freaking Legend. So, that'll be fun.

With a contented sigh, I grabbed some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom. I wanted to get my shower out of the way before Dad woke up, and also wanted an early start on breakfast…which I just got a quest for.

…Now that I know some good lunch recipes, I could also make him some lunch too…

…No quest? Oh well, it'll still be nice to do it for him, and you know, cooking experience.

In the bathroom, I turn on the light and lock the door. I start to set down my clean clothes on the counter…before smiling and shoving the lot into my inventory, and setting it up as outfit set two.

I don't need to change the old fashioned way anymore; in fact, my inventory can double as both my hamper and closet! I don't have to pile dirty laundry up anywhere at all!

I stared down at my soaked sweatshirt and sweatpants, clearly living up to their names.

I look over towards my inventory with a grin. A quick tap of my fingers, and suddenly, I feel the air of the room on my naked skin.

I let out a laugh…that dies in my throat immediately when I look back into the mirror. Across from me I see a naked stranger looking right at…

Wait…

What?

I lift my hand up and put it down.

 _What._

That's…me?

I stare into the mirror, specifically at my arms, legs, and stomach.

I recognize my lips, my hair, and my tall "for my age" frame…but…

Slowly, I pull my arm up and I flex it…

My eyes widen.

Yeeaaaah, I didn't have those yesterday.

My arms…aren't sticks anymore.

I look down.

Neither are my legs.

…and my…

…

Huh…what…how…why…

" _Is that a fucking six-pack?"_


	8. Chapter 8

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 8

The morning passed by in a haze of surreality.

After finding out I had…abs and other muscles…I freaked out a little. Sure, Gamer's Mind in theory lets me tackle high emotional situations without too much trouble, but the shock and awe were still there in their own muted way.

I looked over myself in the mirror, the heat of a blush on my cheeks.

The muscles added definition to my skin-and-bone frame and gave my form an athletic allure.

…I wouldn't go so far as to say having muscles made me _hot_ , but it did make me a deal more attractive.

Beyond my hair, I wasn't very confident on how I looked. Now though…I could feel that same pitiful confidence about myself start to grow.

I _really like_ how I look in the mirror right now.

This wasn't just a cosmetic boost either; it actually came with practical benefits. How strong was I now? If I punched someone before, I know they'd probably laugh me off, but now? How much _damage_ could I do?

This was after only one day of seriously working on my Strength too.

How much stronger could I possibly get?

I smiled as I thought of the possibilities.

Then my fears about hiding my powers reared their heads, and my smile morphed into an expression of dread.

If I looked this much different, there was no way I could hide it. Even with baggy clothing, it wouldn't take much for someone to tell something was different about me.

Normal people don't get six-packs from a week's worth of exercise after an extended hospital stay.

I got a set after a single _day's worth._

If anyone saw my muscles, they'd know I was a cape. Not even steroids are that good, and the tinker-stuff _is way_ beyond what a high school student could afford.

I briefly considered I might be forced to have that "talk" with Dad today…

…It probably says something about me that I'm more scared of talking to Dad about myself then I am on the possibility of punching bad guys in the face.

…

I am not self-reflecting on that can of worms right now.

Luckily I had the whole "skin" thing, so I when I actually remembered I had that, I equipped my…ugh…"beanpole" skin.

Like a dissipating dream, my fears _and_ muscles went poof and I was scrawny once more.

…then I turned it off and watched my muscles pop back in.

Then I turned it back on.

…then off.

On.

Off.

On.

Off.

On.

I swapped back and forth in front of the mirror a few times in bewilderment. It was both fascinating and extremely disturbing to watch, like a spider catching and eating something in its web or a train crashing headlong into a car.

I just couldn't turn away from it or stop myself.

The "before" and "after" pictures in those TV advertised work-out regimens are nice to see side-by side, but seeing someone instantly go from one to the other and back again was _sick and wrong_ , especially when that someone was yourself.

Having muscles was nice. Seeing them melt away into chubby fat and that same fat solidify back into muscles with the push of a button was kind of horrifying.

If I focused a bit _I think I could even feel it._ _Eugh._

Literally, my six-pack has an off-switch. The six-pack I gained _overnight._ The six-pack I'll hardly ever get to actually see or feel.

With a single thought my disgust turned to disappointment.

Intellectually, I understand that if I want to wait to tell Dad about my powers during the weekend when we have the…talk, I'll need to hide my…physical changes, and I'll have to keep hiding them in public for the foreseeable future.

…but on the other hand…I _like_ having muscles.

…and knowing that I have to hide them now because it'll make it way too obvious I have powers irritates the crap out of me.

I sighed in defeat.

At least, paradoxically enough, while my muscles have to go away right now for the sake of secrecy, I still get to keep my newfound strength.

Not like I've had much of a chance to _use it_ per say, but it'll come up sooner or later I'm sure.

After my shower, I took command of the kitchen, and started to fix not only breakfast and lunch for myself and Dad, but also some snickerdoodles.

Because even if I don't _need_ to eat anymore, snickerdoodles are awesome...

I saw we had the ingredients and decided to make some on the sound reasoning of "why not?"

…and practically, if I lose a lot of health, food is the quickest way for me to regain it that doesn't require me to sleep. Fifteen HP per cookie wasn't too shabby, and I could bake them in relatively big batches for little cost.

By the time everything was finished, and the myriad food-stuff was either waiting to go on a plate or in a bag, Dad made his way downstairs.

I also gained two more levels in cooking for my work, and completed another quest. I was over halfway to level three.

When Dad made it to the kitchen, he spent half a minute staring incredulously between me and the food.

I followed his gaze towards all the food I made, all thirteen individual dishes of it.

…I guess I _did_ go overboard a _little_ , and maybe it was a bit daft of me to make both pancakes _and_ waffles…

Despite the confused looks he gave me, breakfast was a quick, quiet, and happy affair. He didn't ask, and I was grateful for it. He also really liked the food, so that could be a part of why…

We didn't say anything of substance really, but we did enjoy each other's presence more so then we had in the past.

Before long, my Dad was out the door, and I had the house to myself. I took the time to do a short clean-up, and stuffed about half of the left-overs in my inventory…and all of the cookies.

Today, I was going to take care of a few things out of the house, and I wanted to be sure I had something on hand that could heal me in case of an emergency.

"Map."

The box materializes in front of me, and I stare at the quest markers.

Two were at Winslow, so that should be Emma and _Hess_. Another was at the Topher Law Firm, the one Mr. Barnes worked at, and the last one was at the Barnes' home.

I took a deep breath. While Emma was stuck at school…I could talk to both of her parents, and maybe even find a journal or something if Mrs. Barnes lets me in.

Being able to think about the situation at all without everything being shaded through a lens of depression and hurt was miraculous.

Why did I never think of talking to the rest of her family about her before? Sure, I doubt Emma would share her bullying exploits with them, and I kind of know if it ever came to light, Mr. Barnes would likely _do anything_ to help Emma, even if it were to her own detriment, but that didn't mean he would automatically be against telling me what happened to her to make her this way if I asked nicely.

…I just needed to make sure I didn't set him off on lawyer mode.

Before I went to see him though, I had to take care of just a few things first.

I had a few different outfits from my closet in my inventory, so with the tap of a few fingers, I was fully dressed for a cold winter's day in Brockton Bay.

With that done, I made sure my key was in my inventory, locked the house, and left towards Mercy Northwest, the hospital I was sent to after the locker.

Rather than take the bus, I decided to run the whole way. It was farther up north than Winslow, but it wasn't a long distance per say. At most, it would take me an hour to get there.

My powers are definitely turning me into a fitness nut.

Then again, there's the whole six-pack _overnight thing_. If everyone could have those kinds of results, I'm pretty sure everyone would be a bit more focused on health.

I tried going back and forth between a full out sprint and a calm jog, keeping my eyes on my stamina as I went. Sprinting ate into my stamina, but it would regenerate if I simply jogged. After a few tries, I was firmly in a good rhythm of switching between the two, keeping a stable stamina the whole way.

I was a bit nervous at first having one of my screens up, but everyone I'd pass didn't notice it. I did get a few odd looks here and there, but that was probably for not being in school.

Around fifteen minutes into my journey, a blue box popped into my face.

 **A skill has been created through a special action.**

 **Through practicing the use of legs for fast locomotion, a skill to run as fast as you can, "Sprint", has been created!**

 **[Sprint (active) Lv1 EXP: 00.00%]  
A skill using economy of movement to  
move as fast as the legs can carry.  
With more mastery, the less Stamina  
is required and the user can run faster.  
Speed increases with higher Dexterity.  
Current Top Speed: 17 MPH  
SP Cost: 50 per minute**

Huh, neat.

I'd only be able to "sprint" for seven minutes, so if I sprint for five and jog for roughly seventeen minutes, I'd spend and regain my stamina at a rate that wouldn't end up with me fatigued…

…but, is seventeen miles per hour sustained for five minutes super-human? Would I out myself?

It's not exactly flashy…but what if someone does the math? What if someone who knows me from Winslow sees me?

…

Well, I just have to make it so they don't recognize me, right?

 _Hello six-pack me! Mommy missed you!_

At this point, I was outside of my residential area and closer to a few local businesses. A few alleyways were nearby. I could duck into them, turn my skin off, take my glasses off, and use my scarf to hide the lower part of my face while my hoodie was up.

…It wouldn't be a perfect disguise, but it should throw off anybody who knows me.

I wasn't currently in any gang territory, so the alleys _should_ be safe…as long as I'm quick.

A few tense moments later, and I was sprinting towards the hospital, looking almost like another person.

I was even paranoid enough to switch into a different pair of pants and hoodie with my inventory. They were, while still technically baggy, slightly smaller too, so they showed off my form just a _little_ bit. While it wasn't tight enough to show me off in definition, you could tell from the way they hugged onto me I was a bit thicker in my arms and legs where muscles were concerned.

…It was kind of exciting really.

* * *

Another idiosyncrasy of my powers came up. The difference between sprinting and "sprinting" was I had to actively use the word sprint in my head to "sprint" because it was an active skill. I could sprint without it, but I wouldn't actually be going as fast as I could with "sprint."

I felt a little silly about it, but it did make "sense" in gaming logic terms.

By the time I reached the hospital, I had gained two levels in sprint and even a level in vitality.

So what I learned today: I didn't have to actually run myself into a fatigue to raise vitality, I just had to expend a lot of stamina.

Running was looking like a good way to focus solely on vitality. I could even probably focus on another skill while sprint was active.

…Shit, I missed a perfect opportunity to observe stuff. Crap.

…I could have probably even shadow-boxed while I ran…

Ugh, I feel stupid.

Oh, well, I could start doing that later.

A quick dodge into a nearby alleyway and a few taps later, my muscle-less self walked inside Mercy Northwest.

* * *

An hour passed by in a most excruciating matter…

After learning a bit about HIPAA, proving I am Taylor Hebert, and filing paper-work for the release of a copy of my medical records, I find out that it'll possibly take up to _thirty days_ for them to get a copy back to me.

I mean, I understand that a medical records department, especially in Brockton Bay, can be busy, but ugh.

Paper work is the worst, especially since I had no skill to make it go by faster with.

Oh sure, Dish Washing is a skill but Paper Work isn't…bleh.

I swear the hospital official I talked to seemed to take some perverse joy out of it when she told me that. I could see no other valid reason for her to be so peppy otherwise.

…Then again, she had red hair and reminded me of Emma, so it could just be natural bias.

…

Nah.

On the bright side, I used observe whenever I had to wait, and leveled it twice, but beyond that, it was boring and monotonous beyond belief.

I think I have an inkling as to why so many people hate the DMV now.

I don't know if the police department will be any better, but here's to hoping they are.

Another hop into an alley, and once I'm incognito, I sprint towards the local police sub-station.

* * *

I was half-way to the substation, my legs pumping me forward while my arms jabbed towards an invisible Sophia.

Shadow-boxing while full out sprinting wasn't working since the motion of my arms helped me keep balance. That didn't mean I couldn't box some while on a cool-down run. If I didn't go all out with my arms, I could even regenerate my stamina while I did it.

It didn't give me much experience towards unarmed combat when I held back, but it was a small price to pay for me working on multiple skills at a time. Observing everything I could while sprinting however was perfectly do-able.

I had already gained another level in Unarmed Combat Mastery, almost reached the next level in Observe, and I gained two more levels in Sprint…

That's when I _ran_ into a problem...

…

Yeah, I need to work on my puns.

Sprint apparently ramps up quickly as I level it.

Now, I can run at _twenty seven and a half miles per hour…_

For over five minutes…without strain.

It may not be super obvious, but…if anyone thought about what I was doing for any length of time, they'd know I was probably a cape rather than some exercise enthusiast.

So, the next big item on the to-do list is to definitely find somewhere I can practice my skills in private away from home.

 _I'm really_ glad I have some sort of disguise going on, and that it was still the beginning of the work day. The few people I passed generally paid me no attention. I did get a whistle here and there, and one kid obnoxiously yelled " _Run, Forest, run_ ," but luckily no one pointed a phone at me to record a video.

I mean, it was fun, watching the buildings and feeling the air rush by. I even stopped and checked in a window's reflection here and there to make sure I wasn't recognizable. Even though I definitely wasn't, there was just this sense of worry that someone would find out that I had powers.

Given the gangs' attitude towards new capes and how they loved to recruit, it would be a disaster if anyone found out about me. If I got strong enough that I was _desirable_ …but too weak to stop them?

The ABB would probably just sic Oni-Lee on me to slit my throat since I wasn't Asian. The E88…they'd try to forcibly make me another Nazi most likely. My family has mixed European heritage with mainly Italian and French leanings…so they'd rather torture me to obey them then outright kill me.

…

It was a sobering thought as much as it was unnerving.

Luckily, I was never anywhere near Merchant territory, what little of it there was, so the possibility of them forcing a needle in my arm to make me addicted to whatever crap they had was low. Even then, I would just sleep the drug off and Gamer's Mind might even no-sell the addiction. So, small silver lining, the Merchants would just be forced to kill me instead.

…

Hell of a silver lining that is.

Deep breaths, just take some deep breaths.

Training my skills right now was the best use of my time. If I _don't_ get stronger fast enough, anyone of those possibilities could end up as my future if I go out as a hero. Then the PRT or BBPD would have to explain to Dad why they have my corpse…

Even if my powers treat my life as a game, _it isn't_. I need to be careful moving forward.

Slowly, I stopped "sprinting" and merely kept up with a normal run for the rest of the way. This early on, I couldn't afford to make a simple mistake. I'd worry about "sprint" when I actually had a costume or I could find someplace to do it outside of public view. I kept up with my other skills though, shadow-boxing and observing what I could as I went down the sidewalk.

At least I could go all out with my boxing now…

Before I reached an alleyway near the substation, I gained a level in both skills for my effort. A minute later, and I was out of my simple disguise and was ready to talk to some police officers.

* * *

After explaining why I currently wasn't in school, the officers at the substation were helpful in letting me know I was in the _wrong_ place.

Due to convenience, Police Records have their own office near the PRT headquarters.

Downtown.

In the opposite direction I'd been running in all morning.

That's the building that handles public request for police information.

Not here. Even if they could hunt down the information and give me a copy, it simply wasn't their job and protocol meant the actual secretaries had to do it over there.

...Okay then, more time for me to grind skills.

If I run without my sprint power, it'll take me probably an hour and a half to run all the way there. If I do risk using my sprint, I'd be shaving off forty minutes…

Even if I took the fastest bus route, the time of day meant I'd be wasting more time at a bus stop than actively training a skill.

The choice was pretty obvious.

The good news is that the law firm I need to visit today is on the outskirts of downtown closet to my house, so I would be heading in that direction later anyways. Emma's house would be a bit more to the west, close to Captain's Hill, so even heading back; it wouldn't be too bad of a detour.

I could head there first, but…I'd rather take care of the paper work then…deal with that mess just yet.

Before I began my trek in that direction I did ask a few questions, which one of the officers was more than happy to answer me.

Since the investigation into the locker was concluded… _without finding any culprit whatso-fucking-ever_ …a copy of the incident report should be available for me to request from public records.

Given the investigation itself was a dud, I mostly wanted a form that talks about what they found in my locker. From what I heard from my Dad, they had to cart everything from my locker out in biohazard bags. If I could get that part of the investigation in writing as a part of my bully journal, I'd feel a bit better.

Again, it wouldn't be hard evidence, and I doubt it would do anything by itself, but it would be great to have on hand as a part of a greater whole if I ever did find something that I could nail those three bitches to the wall with.

I would have to sign a form (ugh, more paperwork) and prove I was the victim in the report in question, but I shouldn't have too much of an issue getting a hold of it, considering it was so recent.

When I asked if I'd actually get a hold of the copy today, he looked apologetic before telling me that there would likely be a queue and I'd probably be able to pick it up in a few days.

At least he was kinder about it then the hospital staff.

With that done, I tucked into the nearest alleyway, put on my disguise, and went on.

* * *

I stared at the blue boxes in front of me with a grin underneath my scarf. Another point in vitality, two in unarmed, and one in observe. Even nabbed another point in speed reading due to all the observe boxes.

I didn't learn anything really important with it. There were just a few tidbits of interesting trivia. Observe tells me who owns buildings now for one, and a lot of the run-down ones around here are owned by Fortress Construction for some reason.

Maybe they're looking for a new lot to put another shelter in or something? I'm not really knowledgeable about real estate, so hope they can find something of use, the Bay needs all the help it can get with its economy.

Dad did say he found a few-

A scream pierced the air interrupting my thoughts.

"Help! Hel-"

I heard a slam, and then a loud meaty thud. Then thuds followed by more thuds…

Without thinking I ran towards the noise. It was coming from an alleyway just ahead of me. As I got closer…

"What did I tell you slut? Not to fucking scream!"

…I heard another voice.

As I turned into the alleyway, the first thing I saw was a broken dark skinned woman in a scuffed-up uniform crumpled on the floor. Her face was a mess of bruises, and blood was pouring from her broken nose. She was leaning up against the wall, blood flowing where the back of her head impacted the hard brick.

Above her head, I saw her name.

 **LV 17 Rayyah Whitley**

Across from her was her assailant, a short but muscled thug sneering down at her with undisguised disgust.

 **Disgraced Pit-Fighter  
LV 4 Michael Donovan**

The bald head and the number "88" tattooed to it told me exactly why he did it too.

He reared his foot back…

"Stop!"

Who said that? I turn my head left and right to look around to see if anyone else was there. I don't see anyo-

The thug slowly puts his foot down and turns towards me.

…Oh _, that was_ _me._

He stares at me for a moment. There's something off about his right eye, like it's not really staring at me. He also has a few scratch marks on his face. Mrs. Whitley must have fought back. He calmly takes a hanker chief out of one of his pockets and starts to wipe off the _blood on his fist_. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

I schooled my eyes and stared at him. Observe.

 **Name: Michael Donovan  
Title: Disgraced Pit-Fighter  
Profession: Gang Member  
Faction: E88  
Sex: Male  
Class: Brawler  
Level: 4 EXP: N/A  
Age: 32 Race: Human**

HP: 682/700 MP: N/A

 **STR: 27  
VIT: 22  
DEX: 8  
INT: 7  
WIS: 4  
LUK: 8**

 **Status: One-Eyed Arthritis Hungry Eunuch**

Wait, what?

 **Biography: A former E88 Pit-Fighter, Michael Donovan was once a rising star in the underground fighting rings hosted by Hookwolf. Due to his misogynistic views and through the influence of alcohol after a number of wins, he insulted Cricket and challenged her to one-on-one combat in the ring.**

 **Due to the number of insults he called her before the match and his outspoken repeated desire to win the right to "rape her raw," Cricket took** _ **great pleasure**_ **in breaking all of his limbs, removing his right eye, and publicly castrating him before the laughing crowds.**

 _Oh god!_

 **Right before she intended to decapitate him, Hookwolf intervened. He thought keeping Michael alive in his current state would be better than simply letting him die, turning him into a living lesson for what happens to those who "grasp beyond their reach." Cricket humored Hookwolf, but ensured Michael would never have his eye or manhood back again by tossing the remains into a nearby burn barrel.**

Well, frankly, he had it coming.

 **Even with Othala's granted regeneration saving him from bleeding out and reknitting snapped bones, it could not restore his missing body parts. Now, barred from the pits as a laughingstock, the subdued Michael takes out his rage and frustration on acceptable targets: the women of other ethnicities that the Empire considers to be of inferior races.**

 **Emotions: Rage. Hatred. Satisfaction.**

…Great, a one-eyed castrated misogynistic Nazi with a giant chip on his shoulder and a desperate need for anger management.

This is because I have a two in Luck, isn't it?

Silver lining; observe no longer gives me a brief history!

I shake my head. Focus.

"I said stop."

 **Quest Alert:  
That's a very nice Nazi you have there…  
**Stop the Nazi and save the victim!

 **Time limit:** 6 minutes  
 **Reward: +** 1000 EXP, + 3 Strength, +3 Dexterity  
 **Failure Penalty** : Death and/or Shame

He looks unimpressed.

"Listen little girl, I've got no problem with you. You've got the right skin." He tilts his head to the side. "May not know exactly how pure you are to the ol' Aryan ideal, but you're close enough for me not to want to bash your skull in." He smiled with his teeth bared. "Her on the other hand…well, I'm just doing my civic duty here: taking care of the trash. So, how about you move on now darlin', there's no need for your blood to end up on the floor here."

"Oh fuck you, dickless _wunder._ "

 _Oh fuck I said that out loud._

His eyes widen, and his fists tighten to a fine white. His face reddens and… "Whoa, I didn't know people could even get that shade of red!"

Also, _fucking said that out loud too. What the fuck is wrong with me?_

"I don't know how the hell you fucking know that, but I feel generous today." He reaches under his jacket and pulls out a very large knife. "Now, I won't say it again, get the fuck away from here, or I'll treat you like I'm about to treat her, and carve you nice like a fucking Thanksgiving Turkey."

 _Okay. Fuck it._

"Oh I'm _sorry_. You're not dickless. You were castrated! That means you have _no balls_ , not that you have _no dick_. It was an honest mistake. I mean, if we run into Cricket, I'm sure I could convince her to fix that for us. I'm sure she'd be up to it. What do you say?"

 **A new skill has been—**

Close. Not now.

I focus back on-and he's actually purple now…and is that his health bar above his head?

"Alright _bitch_ , time to bleed."

I think for half a second. Menu. Options. Notifications. Non-combat only.

He starts to charge towards me, the knife in his left-hand. For some reason, the blade is pointed down rather than up… That's like, a rookie mistake with a knife. (Thank you Unarmed Combat Mastery) He should be holding it for slashes and quick stabs, not…like some B-rated slasher film villain.

I raise my guard. "So, is that a yes?"

"Aaaaaagh!"

As he closes the distance, he starts swinging his knife out like his last name's Myers, thrusting down with the blade.

"I guess that's a no then. Well, I always did want to beat up Nazi." I stare at him in morbid fascination as I jump back a few steps, his knife missing by miles. "Don't you know that's a _horrible_ way to use a knife?" I take another back step out of his range and into his blind spot as he tries to stab me like he's the American fucking psycho. "I mean, really now? You have no control with it."

"Shut the fuck up!"

"No can do Mr. Skinhead." I do another dodge. "I like talking." I step into his blind spot again, dodging another horribly performed stab. "Did your parents _really like_ the Halloween series when they named you? It seems appropriate really."

He screams again in an inarticulate rage. I'm not sure he got that one, but yeah, less taunting, more fighting. He's stronger, so I can't overpower him, but…dodge…he's also horribly off-balance, and totally…dodge….focused on just stabbing me.

For an ex-pit fighter he doesn't really fight like one…

He stabs at me again.

This time, I dodge to his left-side, something that he completely didn't see coming for whatever reason, his purple face imitating a gold fish in shock. I lash out with my left hand and grab his wrist, and twist the knife's blade away from me. I pull his arm towards my hip, bringing him off balance.

At the same time, I raise my left leg up past the Nazi. With all the force I can muster, I bring my leg racing back down, and drive my heel into the back of his left ankle. The force of my leg carries it through, and the skinhead falls to the ground as one of his legs shoot out from under him. My left hand is still firmly on his wrist with the knife.

The maneuver is done all in the span of a second.

Ooh, he hit his head. His eyes are closed shut as he moans. _That'll_ bruise.

I see numbers float in front of me in red.

-25

-150

I check his health. Yep his health is down to five-hundred and seven. Not good enough. With a shuffle of my feet, I'm now facing his downed body from his left side. I shift his captive wrist to my front and grab hold with my other hand.

I _roll_ his wrist, and with a grunt from the Nazi and another red floating number, the knife pops out of his hand into one of mine.

Inventory.

With a quick toss, the knife vanishes with a small flash of light.

No weapon for you.

He's trying to get back up. I don't let him. I rear my right foot back and kick him in the head.

-300

Suddenly he's dead weight.

…

Observe.

Huh, unconscious is a status effect…so is berserk. Neat.

Suddenly, there's a small flash of light right in front of me.

When it fades, I see on the ground a pile of dollar bills and coins.

What.

Then I'm suddenly buried by over a dozen blue boxes appearing all at once.

My eyes widen.

 _What._


	9. Chapter 9

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 9

Blue boxes abound, money that appeared in a flash of light, and an unconscious Nazi at my feet.

Today was turning out to be _really_ interesting.

I stare at his prone form, the bruise from my kick clearly visible on his face. _I did that_. _Holy shit._ I mean, yeah, I remember doing it, but in the moment itself…the _weight_ of it just didn't register.

Wow.

Gamer's Mind at work obviously, but still...

I shook my head. Before I take care of…any of that, I turned my head to scan the alleyway, looking past the now transparent screens. The victim's still there and…completely unconscious.

Observe.

As soon as I focus on the boxes again, they all pop into visibility. With a bit of annoyance, it takes me just a few seconds to push the other boxes aside and read the box about Ms. Whitley….or is it Mrs. Whitley?

Whatever.

 **Name: Rayyah Whitley  
Title: N/A  
Professions: Waitress & College Student  
Faction: Civilian  
Sex: Female  
Class: Commoner  
Level: 17 EXP: N/A  
Age: 23 Race: Human**

 **HP: 114/500 MP: N/A**

 **STR: 9  
VIT: 16  
DEX: 14  
INT: 24  
WIS: 14  
LUK: 5**

 **Status: (Unconscious) (Concussion) (External Bleeding) (Internal Bleeding) (Contusions) (Broken Nose) (Stress Fractures: Feet & Ankles) **

**Biography: A young woman who works as a waitress to help pay for her college classes along with her scholarships, Rayyah Whitley is a second-generation immigrant trying to make the most of her life in Brockton Bay. Born to an Egyptian mother and an American father, she has tried her best to keep a balance between both cultures while also keeping her own personal identity.**

 **Between her mother's** **Kemetism beliefs and her father's own Anglican, she has flip-flopped between the two religions all her life much to her local priest's chagrin. Her parents however have encouraged her to follow whatever path she wants rather than force her to conform to any singular custom, which has strengthened their familial bonds to an extreme degree.**

 **One of her main driving goals in earning her accounting degree is to secure a job that'll allow her to take care of both of her beloved parents, and more importantly, get them out of the Bay. Due to the history of gang violence in the city and their obvious heritage, her biggest fear is her mother being cornered and killed by an E88 thug.**

 **If she had the ability, she would have triggered as a parahuman ten minutes ago.**

 **Emotions: Terror. Despair.**

As soon as I see the words "internal bleeding," I was sprinting over towards her, my speed reading skill letting me finish the entire contents of the box just before I reach her. As I run, I can see her health tick down a point.

 _Fuck_.

As soon as I'm near her, like a switch in my head, my first aid skill is suddenly active, and I feel myself fall into another unnatural calm. The boxes once more shimmer back to invisibility as I firmly focus on her.

I check her airway. Her breathing is unrestricted, good.

I check her pulse. It's higher than normal, but not dangerous or erratic.

I need to call an ambulance. _Shit._ I really need a cell phone. That's going on the to-do list.

I quickly look through her pockets without any luck, and then I scan around to see if she had a purse.

A few feet away, I spot it, mangled as it is, and as fast as I can I reach over and grab it. Almost tearing it open, I quickly fish through it before finding her phone.

As soon as I fiddle with it and the screen turns on, I curse.

It's locked.

Then, my eyes catch the emergency button in the corner. I'm far too busy to really feel any relief as I quickly tap it.

After just a short ring I hear a male voice. "911 emergency."

"I need an ambulance. There's an unconscious assault victim here with a head injury that needs medical attention ASAP. I also need the police…" I stare back at nut-less. "…And possibly another ambulance. The Nazi who attacked her is unconscious here too. "

While I talk, carefully, I start to put her into the recovery position. A slight distortion pops into my face half-way through. I'm sure it's a box, but I'm so focused on Rayyah, it must have appeared and stayed transparent for me.

The operator answers back calmly and professionally. "Can you give me the address?"

I blink for a second. Menu. Map. I look and see the icon representing me, and zoom in like I'm using a touch screen. I smile. "Yes. I can." I quickly rattle off the address to him.

"Good. Help is on the way, ma'am. Could you please give me your name?"

I freeze. _Fuuuuucccck._ I did _not_ think this through. "I…can't. No."

"Okay, ma'am." I hear him taking a deep breath. "Are you by chance a parahuman? Did you help the victim and stop the mugger?"

I chew on my lips.

Saying nothing will give me away anyways, but what do I have to really gain from continuing to talk?

Would they call the PRT and would the Protectorate want to say hello?

Would they try and sell me a Wards pitch?

I don't have a proper mask or costume, I don't have a cape name …yet, and I'm still working out how to make my powers…cape career viable.

It's just something _I'm not ready_ for yet.

"Ma'am? Hello? Are you still with me?"

No. Talking to the PRT or Protectorate this early…no. I'm not ready. I'm not.

I ignore the phone and turn back towards Ms. Whitley.

Her health actually ticked up a point, so I guess first aid is working here. I'm not sure…what I did to cause that though. There's not much else I can personally do for her.

I sigh, and then put the phone on the ground, leaving the call on. I tune out whatever the operator is saying, and focus on Rayyah.

The wound on the back of her head is luckily just a closed head injury. It's a minor laceration, and blood loss is minimal. I can't properly clean it and I have no bandages or disinfectant. Even if I could substitute it with some cloth torn from one of the extra shirts in my inventory, the ambulance would be here to take it off in ten or so minutes anyways to apply something that would work better.

Her nose bleed has already started to slow from the earlier gushing too. The only thing I could do there would be to keep pressure on it until it clotted. Even if I did that, the ambulance would show up before the bleeding would fully stop.

 _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

I curse a little for not thinking about grabbing some medical supplies when leaving the house. I was thinking I'd be fine with just food, and I didn't even think I'd be actually doing anything hero related this soon.

I'm not sure if my food would heal other people, it's possible, but there's no way I'm going to try and force food down an unconscious person's throat. That's a good way to block her air supply since I can't force her to swallow.

A first aid kit and other assorted medical supplies is a must have for my inventory in the future.

Reluctantly, I start to leave.

I turn back towards the racist asshole on the ground, and decide to be cautious.

I give him another observe.

Yeah, even with the hit I gave him, he's much better off than his victim: Only a small concussion, unconsciousness and some bruises. Berserk is also gone, so it must have timed out.

…How long will he be out?

Can I see the duration? Like with my own fatigue?

I tap his unconscious status effect to see what happens.

A smaller box pops up telling me the brief details on how unconsciousness works…and exactly how long it'll last.

 **Duration** : **6m27s**

… _Fuck!_

Quickly I scan through the contents of my inventory. I need something to restrain him with and I need it now!

I swipe from page to page; seeing only food, clothing, school supplies, and other _completely_ fucking useless things.

Why did I have to grab all of my pants with elastic bands and none of the ones that need belts!

I glance again towards the timer.

 **Duration: 5m38s**

 _Shit! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!_

I need to improvise something, and I need it now. If only I had a rope or some strong string or…

I get an idea.

I stare down at the Nazi's shoes: specifically his shoelaces. Then I look up at the belt holding up his pants.

That'll work.

* * *

With only a minute to spare, I stare down at my handiwork.

The first few times I bungled with the laces and wasted three minutes. Then I gained the knot-tying skill. Then I tied his wrists in a handcuff knot with one of the shoe laces on my very first post-skill try.

Knowledge ex nihilo is bullshit like that.

I used the other lace for his ankles.

Then, just to make sure, I tied his belt firmly around his ankles over the lace, which I then covered by rolling down his pants over both the lace and the belt.

He isn't going _anywhere_ soon.

Already I could hear sirens in the distance getting louder and louder.

I glance quickly between Ms. Whitley and the Nazi. The police and ambulances should be here any minute now. He's secured, and she's stabilized.

Only one last thing to take care of…

I stared at the mystery money on the ground.

* * *

I tapped into my sprint power for just a little while to gain some distance from the alleyway. I picked a direction opposite from the sirens, and was a few blocks away when I heard them shut off.

I let out the breath I was holding. That's plenty of excitement for the week let alone today. I mean, I'd totally do it again, but…

Map.

…I have things to do.

Staring at the map made by my power/cartographer, I pursed my lips to one side of my face. I was now, as, luck had it, walking towards Emma's house.

 _Joy._

I started to question whether this is the result of luck or Luck, but shook my head. Now's not the time.

If I head back now, I'm sure I'd end up on someone's official recording equipment. I don't think Ms. Whitley saw me, and I don't know how cooperative the amazing eunuch Nazi would be, but if he was…

What's the chance the BBPD would give the PRT a call and have both their guys and the Protectorate be on the lookout for someone in my current outfit today? Considering I would be heading right near PRT headquarters… I think my first plan for today is thoroughly botched.

With a suffering sigh, I made my choice.

I guess I'll go and visit Mrs. Barnes and then deal with the stuff downtown afterwards…

I focused on the blurred transparent boxes around me.

…but first!

I ducked into a nearby alleyway…again.

In equal halves of amusement and exasperation, I stare at the suddenly appearing blue blockade in front of me while letting out a very deep sigh.

Okay, let's get through this, one box at a time.

 **For skillful dodging, your dexterity has increased by 1.**

Four of those…

 **Your "Unarmed Combat Mastery" skill has increased by 1!**

Three of these… Poke. Poke. Poke.

 **Your "Taunt" skill has increased by 1!**

Four of those and _, oooh,_ it's that new skill I used to piss Mike the ball-less wunder off. Definitely need to check how that works later.

 **Achievement Progress: New Hampshire Nazis. I** _ **hate**_ **New Hampshire Nazis. 1/100**

First achievement I've seen, and it's one for _beating up_ Nazis? _Even_ _my powers_ don't like the Empire. I snort, giving this box an affectionate pat, before poking the X in the corner.

 **A skin has been unlocked through a special action!**

 **For stopping a racially motivated hate crime, you've unlocked the "Egyptian Taylor" skin.**

I blink a few times.

…Did I just… _unlock_ an _ethnicity_?

Okay then. That's…new.

 **Achievement Progress: The Great Taylor Melting Pot. 1/10**

...And it comes with an achievement that wants me to unlock even more it seems…

Well, on the bright side, better disguises! That's something I'll need to check when I have a mirror.

 **Quest Completed!  
You have successfully completed the quest "That's a very nice Nazi you have there…"  
Reward: **+1000 EXP, +3 Strength, +3 Dexterity

Attribute gains from quests…that's freaking awesome.

Besides training and levels, that gives me a third way of raising them!

I mean, sure, I'm going to be limited based on what quests actually provide, but still!

 **Your level has increased by 1!**

 **You have earned 1 perk! A perk point is gained every three levels and can be spent in the menu for perks. Perks can have a wide range of affects: from boosting stats and skills to granting entirely new abilities. As your level, stats, and skills increase, the more perks are available to choose from in the menu.**

 **Perks are not just earned through points, but can also be granted through various actions, such as: raising an attribute to a certain level, completing a specific quest, equipping a particular title, or even through different achievement rewards.**

Ooh, a point for perks and an explanation! I'll take a look at what perks I have later though. Depending upon what choices I have, I might need to save them like attribute points.

Also, something explicitly telling me achievements have rewards. That makes them a _lot_ more appealing and important to pursue.

I quickly go through the rest of the boxes, mainly the ones that appeared after the fight, and were pushed to the side as they appeared while I was busy.

 **Your "First Aid" skill has increased by 1!**

 **For cautious foresight, your wisdom has increased by 1.**

 **For a clever substitution, your intelligence has increased by 1.**

 **Through practicing the use of shoelaces for binding, a skill to tie knots, "Knot-Tying", has been created!  
**

 **[Knot-Tying (passive) Lv 1 EXP: 32.50%]  
A skill used to create knots in ropes, wires, strings,  
or any thin lines of material. With more mastery,  
the more complicated knots can be tied.  
5% increase in knot-tying speed. **

Aaaand done…

Just one last thing to take care of:

I take the cash that appeared in a flash of light after I played my first game of Whack-A-Nazi from one of my pockets and placed the funds on the ground in front of me.

Observe.

A blue box appears and tells me its legal US currency amounting to twenty seven dollars and seventeen cents. Specifically legal _Earth Bet_ US currency, oddly enough, but legal all the same. It also says it has no owner…

I raise an eyebrow.

It's hard to believe that, but observe hasn't given me information that's been wrong yet.

Also, it's nice to know I can observe a group of similar things, and I'm not forced to observe by singular objects. I'm not sure how handy that would be outside of counting everything up, but it's still pretty neat.

Well, I'm still a bit iffy about just throwing it into my inventory, so I need some sort of…scientific control here.

I need to observe cash that's not part of the pile.

Inventory.

I see it pop up and stare at the little counter that keeps track of how much cash I have. My money didn't actually take up a box in the inventory so...

I poke the counter.

Another box appears.

 **How much would you like to withdraw?**

Right underneath the question is another small counter reading zero dollars and zero cents, with a small number pad near it followed by a withdraw and cancel button.

Huh, convenient.

A few pokes, and I have a five dollar bill, a one dollar coin, and a single quarter in my hand.

Observe.

 **Assorted US Currency:  
Legal Earth Bet United States currency. The assorted currency amounts to six dollars and twenty five cents. Owner: Taylor Hebert**

That's one confirmation.

I stuff the cash back into my inventory, and look back at the money on the ground.

No owner…means I should just be able to grab it, but what if my loot system just changes the ownership of an item when it… _conjures_ it from _wherever_. If it was from his wallet or god forbids _his bank account,_ this would still be stealing even if he is a Nazi dirt bag.

If only I had something else of…

 _Wait,_ I still have his knife.

I push my hand into my inventory and pull it back out with the knife in tow.

Observe.

First off, it's specifically a KM2000, a combat knife used by the fucking German military.

I scrunch my face up.

That's right, isn't the Empire supported by a Nazi group from Germany or something? Ugh, great.

Second, it actually hasn't drawn blood both bizarrely and luckily enough. He only just got it recently in fact.

Maybe that's why he sucked with a knife so much?

Then again, he was supposed to be a good pit fighter. Shouldn't he know better on how to use one?

…

…I'll need to check what Taunt does later.

Third, it tells me the owner is Michael Donovan, and that it has been…stolen by…Taylor Hebert…

My shoulders droop as I let out a few short depreciative laughs.

Oops.

…Yeah, I'll just drop this off back in the alleyway on my way downtown.

I put the… _borrowed_ knife back into my inventory for now, and stare back at the money.

…

I'm still a bit…worried about this, but for now, I'll trust my power and just take it.

With a slight bit of hesitation, I grab the cash and chuck it into my inventory.

Boxes dealt with, cash picked up, Nazi arrested…now for the hard part of the day: Talking to Emma's mom.

* * *

It wasn't even a full ten minutes later when I was close enough that I needed to change back.

After a few glances to make sure the coast was clear, I ducked off the street into _another_ alley, and swapped back into my thin non-muscled self.

I also swapped between my current hoodie to a just a plain sweatshirt. I still had a scarf around my face, but at least it was of a different color. Then there were my superfluous pair of glasses.

You know, the lack of phone booths in Brockton Bay is a real shame.

It was just a few moments later I was standing right in front of _her_ house.

The last time I was here was the moment she ended our friendship and claimed it was all a fraud. A facade she finally had the chance to end.

I knew Emma. I knew she had to be lying then…that complete and utter bullshit about cutting cords and all…but I just…I was too hurt to confront her, especially with Hess there.

It was the first time I saw her in my life as well.

It was a shitty day all around.

…and now, after all this time, I'm back here.

I tighten my fists, hold my head up high, and walk to the front door.

I lift my hand over the door, ready to knock, and pause…

Should I really be doing this?

Would knowing _why_ really help me?

I close my eyes.

If there's a reason, I want to know it, but will the answer make it any better in the end?

I take a deep breath.

There's only one way to find out.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

For an agonizing amount of time, I wait.

I saw her car, so I know she's here…so it's not like she's at work right-

Through the door I see a small icon getting closer and closer to the front door.

Great, it wasn't a journal at all…

Well this is going to be awkward.

The door opens, and I see Zoe Barnes for the first time in years. Emma gets a lot of her looks from her mother, both her red hair and her beauty.

Mrs. Barnes is obviously older and has a bit more in the way of curves, compared to Emma's youth and svelte form, but you clearly can see the mother-daughter relation when they're in the same room.

They're even roughly the same height too, just a few inches shorter then I am.

She stares at me with a face full of confusion and befuddlement.

I take a short breath. Even seeing her after all this time, I can't bring up the will to smile, but neither do I grimace or frown. My face is just entirely neutral. "Hi Mrs. Barnes, I need to talk to you."

Then I see understanding on her face, and a small frown.

"T…Taylor? Is that you?"

For a moment, I'm worried I'm still all muscly, but a quick glance down, shows I'm not.

I stare back up, and simply nod.

Slowly, her frown morphs into a sad smile.

"It's been too long…" she murmurs.

I start to nod slightly. "Yes...it ha-"

Before I can even finish, she grabs me and yanks me into a crushing hug.

…What? My face scrunches up into a mixture of horror and shock. What is she doing?

…and _why?_

I hear a small sob, and feel something wet trickle onto my shoulder.

…Is she actually….

…Oh my god she actually is crying…

…the mother of my former best friend/literal nemesis is _hugging me and crying on my shoulder_.

Slowly I raise my hands and give her an awkward pat on the back.

"…there…there?"

All I get out of her is more sobs.

…I'm going to be here for a while aren't I?

…

Forget interesting, today was just _fucking_ weird.


	10. Chapter 10

Let's Play a Game - Chapter 10

Sitting there in a silent daze, I spent the last several minutes trying to wrap my head around what just happened.

We stood there for what felt like hours, her sobbing and muttering apologies for…something, and me just standing there, awkwardly trying to console her.

There was a small moment where I was livid with her because I thought that _she knew_ about what Emma's doing at school, but that died in a flash when she mentioned something about… Mom in her apology.

I'm again thankful for Gamer's Mind, since if I didn't have it, I'm sure I would have lashed out at her and left without another word.

With all of her blubbering, I couldn't understand her. When she finally quieted down—after my clothes were absolutely soaked—I asked her what she was apologizing about.

She just slowly disengaged from our hug…the first one anyone besides Dad had given me in over a year…and looked at me in absolute bewilderment, as if _I_ were the weirdo.

Her face twitched between several different emotions like a roulette wheel as she thought. Finally when her face settled for—despite her spilt tears and running snot—a determined look, she asked me to come in.

So, here I am, currently in the Barneses' living room, waiting. Mrs. Barnes asked me to sit on the couch while she made some tea.

Not much has changed since the last time I was here. The furniture is the same; the pictures on the wall are unchanged, everything is just so apparently… copacetic.

It's like I was here just yesterday…

I even remember the multiple times Emma and I would set up our pillow forts in here when we were only six years old. How we'd hog the TV until dawn for movie and board-game marathons.

We would spend hours talking about which superhero we'd want to be like when we grew up… well, actually, it was mostly me. I always did most of the talking in those kinds of conversations, but Emma always took it in stride with laughter and a big smile on her face.

When she started talking about which Disney Princess she'd want to be, I'd let her gush in the same way. I'd hit her with a pillow for choosing Aurora over Belle since she was _wrong_ , but it was all in good fun.

Nowadays, she tells me how no one wants anything to do with me and how I should just do everyone a favor and go die.

It's _funny_ how people change.

If she had come to me a few months in to the bullying, explained everything, and begged for me to forgive her, I'd probably have done it depending upon what had happened. However, after what she did to _Mom's flute_ , I don't really see us ever going back to the way things were, and that's ignoring the locker.

Even if this isn't about forgiveness… I'll still want some… closure out of it. Finding out what happened to change her like this will be enough for now.

I'll worry about justice and due punishment later.

Gathering some evidence that can't be denied and finding someone who'll actually _do_ _something_ about it will take a bit more effort than just a few uncomfortable talks and an Observe or two.

My musing is interrupted by the clinking of a hot cup of tea being placed in front of me.

I look up into the sad, smiling face of one Zoe Barnes. She washed up, but I can still see the redness from her crying. She has a cup of her own in her hands.

I nod at her and, muttering a quiet "Thank you," take a sip.

My eyes widen.

 _Oh._

She remembered my favorite tea.

It was a small gesture, but…

I look at her. I'm still a bit hesitant about talking with her about Emma. Even if my depression is gone, I can admit I still have issues with trusting others.

Fortunately, I have a bit of a cheat sheet.

Observe.

 **Your "Observe" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Name: Zoe Barnes  
Title: N/A  
Profession: Professional Caterer  
Faction: Civilian  
Sex: Female  
Class: Aristocrat  
Level: 24 EXP: N/A  
Age: 44 Race: Human**

HP: 500/500 MP: N/A

 **STR: 11  
VIT: 13  
DEX: 15  
INT: 21  
WIS: 20  
LUK: 24**

 **Status: (Early Onset Arthritis)**

 **Biography: Zoe Barnes, after her train wreck of an attempt to earn a bachelor's in journalism, decided to take a chance and spent her young adult years in the pursuit of her childhood dream: to become a chef. Through hard work both in culinary school and the workplace ladder, she became an executive chef at a premier restaurant in Brockton Bay at the young age of twenty-three.**

 **In the Bay, she met the love of her life, Alan Barnes, who, after only a few months of dating, she married. As the years passed, Zoe gave birth to two daughters. The parents did their best to juggle both their family and their dream jobs, but eventually Zoe had to step down as a chef. She didn't stay idle however, and started her own catering business, an occupation that gave her the best of both worlds: cooking for other people and a flexible schedule for family.**

 **For a long time, life was great. Her daughters were growing to be fine young women, and Alan was quickly climbing the firm's corporate ladder. Her youngest daughter connected with a girl at grade school, Taylor Hebert, and eventually, both the Barneses and Heberts were practically one big family by themselves. In those happy years, Annette Hebert, Taylor's mother, was her best friend, while Daniel Hebert was Alan's.**

 **However, a string of tragedies eventually divided the two families. With Annette's death, Daniel's depression, Emma's traumatic event,** —

My eyebrows rise a bit.

What traumatic event?

…

…That's why she's been such a bitch?

… _And she went to…to Sophia first and never told me about it!?_

 **-and Taylor's absence: the two families have drifted apart. At first, when Daniel began neglecting himself and his daughter, Zoe was willing to adopt Taylor if he didn't snap out of his initial crash.**

My eyes widen.

She'd…she'd do that for me?

 **While thankfully, Daniel recovered, Zoe has always felt that Taylor was practically her third daughter, and the recent distance between the Barneses and Heberts has weighed heavily on her heart.**

 **Emotions: Happiness. Regret. Sorrow. Love.**

I choke a bit as I read that last one, feeling my throat tighten on me.

Slowly, I mentally close the screen, and focus back on her. I see her smile become a bit less sad and a smidgen happier…

I feel drops of liquid on my cheeks…and damn it, now I'm crying too.

I was told by Emma several times that her family no longer wanted anything to do with me, that my whole depressing and sad family was nothing but a blight and burden on them and that they'd have been better off never seeing me again.

Even though I knew at the time she had to be lying…day after day of hearing her say the same hurtful things took their toll.

Our families used to spend weekends, birthdays, and holidays together to the point that Emma and I weren't just best friends. We were sisters, and our families were pretty much one. My Mom and Dad were an aunt and uncle to Emma, and vice versa.

Emma and I even did that hokey ritual where you make a tiny cut on your palm and shake hands, and bam, you're suddenly blood relatives.

…Thank god neither of us had blood borne diseases.

But because of all of what Emma did, I slowly just withdrew. Phone calls and invitations from the Barneses were both ignored. Emma didn't just push me away from her family. I actively helped her do it…

With Mom gone and Dad in his funk, it was only really up to me to keep that relationship alive…and I let it die. Between all the lies and growing depression, the idea of confronting the Barneses at their home was _unthinkable._

…Now that I have though, at least with Emma's mom, it's like Mrs. Barnes was waiting for me this entire time. As if I finally came home after being away for a long time. This place, despite how it reminds me of everything that Emma did to me, is still my second home.

Mrs. Barnes was actually happy to see me. She _missed_ me. She even… _loves_ me…

…The realization of that means more to me then I ever thought it would.

Because, in a way, I may have lost my sister, but I still have my aunt.

I never really noticed when she sat down beside me nor when she began to hold one of my hands.

Amidst all my thoughts, this time she was consoling me and she did a much better job than I did for her. I don't even know when the tissues appeared in my lap, but there they are.

I'm not sobbing like she did, but it's not one or two tears either.

It takes me a few minutes and several sips from my very _delicious_ tea to compose myself. Finally I turn towards her.

"Thanks, Aunt Zoe…I needed that."

I see her tense up.

 _Crap._

Quickly, I blurt and stammer out: "…I can still…call you that…can't I?"

As quickly as I spoke, she replies. "Of _course_ you can, dear." She deflates a bit. "I just…didn't think you _wanted to_ anymore."

I reel my head back a little. "Why?"

She looks at me for a few seconds, sighs, and leans back into the couch, shaking her head. "Honey…" She glances away from me. "Emma told me you didn't want to…she said you felt like I was…trying to replace your mother; that you didn't want to see me anymore…or have…really anything to do with me anymore." She winces a little as if in pain. "Emma was very…adamant about your…feelings there."

… _What?_

She looks over at me and sees the look on my face. "But she lied to me about that, didn't she?"

I nod while sipping a bit more of my tea.

A hiss of air escapes through her teeth. "What am I going to do with that girl?" I see her face tighten. "If those words were from you, that's one thing…but…she had to have known how much a comment like that would hurt me…so why did she do it?"

If I were in any mood to, that comment might have made me laugh.

Zoe continues. "I thought about…maybe driving over and talking to you and Danny about it, but Emma," she looks down "convinced me that it would be better for her to try and talk to you about it. The two of you were practically sisters…"

She looks back at me, and hesitates a bit at the confused expression on my face. I see her eyes tighten for a second before relaxing.

"She never talked to me about it, and I got caught up in work. The next thing I know, it was months before I brought it up again; and by that time, she said you both had a falling out, that you weren't friends anymore. That it didn't matter, and if I got involved, it would make everything worse for the both of you…

"God, I knew something was wrong about the whole thing." She shakes her head, and sighs. "But at that point…I just…didn't know what to do. No one answered the phone when I called and neither you nor Danny showed up for the holidays. I hoped…" She frowns. "…you both could fix it on your own…but I was wrong. I pushed her a bit on the subject now and then, but she refused to tell me anything more, and the way she…clammed up about it…it reminded me of when…" She pauses with a pained expression.

 _And there's an opening._ "When what?"

She stares at my befuddled face with one of her own. "The incident she had before high school…"

I give a small shrug, while drinking some more of my…

I frown.

 _Fantastic._ I'm _out._

Her eyes widen. "She…she never _told you?_ "

I blink a bit. My lips straighten into a grim line. I hide my displeasure (at Emma, not at the lack of tea) to the best of my ability. "Told me what?"

She closes her eyes, and speaks quietly to herself. "Emma never told her…" She shakes her head. "What is wrong with…" She tapers off too quietly for me to hear anymore.

I stare over at her cup. Her full cup… I point over at it. "Do you…mind if…"

She waves me off and shakes her head

 _Yes!_

As I sip from my new acquisition, she finally opens her eyes and looks back at me, and thinks for a moment. "Taylor…right before both of you started high school…after you came back from…was it summer camp?" I nod. She continues. "Do you remember when Emma stopped talking to you for a while?"

My expression hardens. "Yeah, that's about the time she met Sophia, right? Sophia Hess?"

She looks a bit curious, but nods all the same. "Yes, it is." She takes a deep breath. "Taylor sweetie, Emma went through something…traumatic that summer. She was attacked by the ABB. They just…ripped her right out of Alan's car. If it weren't for Shadow Stalker…I may have lost both of them…"

 _Shadow Stalker…_ "The new Ward?"

"She was a vigilante at the time, but yes."

Before I can do anything else, a box interrupts me.

 **Completed: Talk to Zoe Barnes.**

At the same time, the little icon above Zoe's head disappears. Huh…well, that's one down.

I focus back on Mrs. Ba-Aunt Zoe.

I can just leave. I got everything I came here for.

…but I owe it to her. My power hasn't led me wrong yet…and it says she loves me. I think…I can talk to her about this. She isn't like the teachers from school. If anyone can punish Emma, at least a little, it'll be her own mother. Maybe something will actually come from this…

I take a deep breath, and another sip of….

I'm out of tea.

Again…

 _Great…_

 _Whatever._

This is it. Once I do this, there's no going back.

I can't tell her everything, not before Dad. I… _need_ to tell him the full version first, with all the gritty details that my journal documents. But, I can at least tell Aunt Zoe something about it…

"Aunt Zoe…Emma was the one to cut off our friendship. Not months into high school…but as soon as I got back from camp."

Her face tightens a bit and she frowns…but there's no surprise…

"She said…I wasn't fun anymore…that she had been waiting to end her friendship with me…and would have done it before if…if Mom hadn't kicked the bucket."

I see her eyes widen just a bit.

"After that point…she hasn't been any sort of friend to me. She had already replaced me with Sophia. The reason I came here at all…was…well…to see if you knew why? You've kind of helped me a little, but I still don't know why." I let out a sad laugh. "In fact, I kind of have more questions now." I shake my head a little. "But the big one is still unanswered…Why did Emma do that?" I chew on my lips a little. What's the best way I can put this… "Why does Emma…hate me now?"

I see her pause; her eyes dart here and there, before she looks back at me. "Taylor…what do you mean Emma _….hates_ you _?_ " She whispers the term like it's a curse.

"She's…bullying me. Saying hurtful things and doing pranks. I'd rather not get into the details though…I haven't even told my Dad yet." I sigh. "I'd rather…tell him the whole story before I told anyone else."

"Bullying…" She runs her hand through her hair. "God, that makes too much sense… I told Alan we should have…" She stops herself and focuses back on me. "Listen sweetie, I'll talk to her about it. See why she's doing this. Even if you aren't…" She grimaces. "…friends anymore, that behavior is _unacceptable_." She pauses. "Why haven't you talked to the school about this?"

"I have…it's my word versus theirs of course, and no one backs me up."

"Wait…you're being bullied by more than just…" Her eyes narrow. "Is Sophia also a part of this…bullying?"

I blink. Huh. I give her a nod.

Aunt Zoe puts the palm of her hand to her face. " _I knew it_. I knew she was…" She looks at me for a second.

"You said you wanted to tell your Dad the whole story first, right?"

Again, I simply nod.

I see her stare straight at my eyes. "Honey…is Danny taking care of you? _Properly_?"

What? Oh. _Oh!_ "Of course he is! Dad hasn't…been that out of sorts since…you know."

She nods a bit but still has a laser focus on me. "Are you sure? You're not just protecting him?"

"Yes, Auntie, I'm sure. It's just…after Mom…I didn't want to worry him, you know? I thought it was my problem to deal with for a long time…and…I've only recently been well...overwhelmed by it. I kind of already promised him I'd talk to him about it."

Again, the familiar term she hasn't heard in over a year hits her almost with physical force. She relaxes a bit, and gives me a nod. She looks down sadly. "Taylor…I'm sorry I haven't…been there for you. If I had done something more…this whole _mess_ could have been resolved a long time ago." She rises up, her back straight. "However…that's in the past, all I can do now is focus on what's ahead. I'll talk to Emma, see what's going on in that girl's head."

She looks at me with a thoughtful expression.

"Honestly, at this point I'd offer you and your father over for dinner, but I doubt that would be the…best idea at the moment."

I shake my head while frowning with my eyes wide open. "No thank you…" I lick my lips. "I've kind of been distancing myself from Emma…I don't think I could stand a dinner with her right now."

She agrees, sadly. "I figured as much. Well…" She smiles a bit. "…regardless of this whole situation, you're still welcome here at any time. If we can get to the bottom of this…maybe you two could even be—"

My raised hand cuts her off, and her smile dims. "Aunt Zoe, I don't mean to be rude…but it will take much more than you and Mr. Barnes talking to her for me to ever even conceive the idea I can forgive her, let alone us being friends again."

Her eyes droop to the floor. "How…how badly did she bully you Taylor?"

I peer into the bottom of my empty tea cups.

"Very badly." I turn to stare straight at her eyes. "I wasn't kidding when I said she hates me."

Slowly, she pulls me into a hug.

We stay like that for a few minutes.

She pulls away a bit, a few tears falling. She snorts a few times, before looking over at a clock. "It's…almost time for lunch…you could stay if you…wanted to?"

I regretfully shake my head.

"I'd…I'd love to Aunt Zoe, but I'd actually wanted to talk to both you and Mr. Barnes today." I shift my head a bit from side to side. "I was kind of hoping of catching Mr. Barnes on his lunch break anyways."

She nods a little. "You'll need to leave soon then. Alan and Emma never told me the full details of what happened that night…and I don't know how relevant they'll be to you, but you should be fine asking him. He might…not answer you though. I did pack him something today, so he should be eating in his office. I'll give him a call to let him know you're coming. I'll even…give him some details alright?" She frowns. "You know, you can call him uncle still?"

I smile sadly. "I'm…not comfortable doing that just yet."

She gives me another slightly slower and sadder nod. "Alright…" Her face becomes serious. "Taylor, regardless of what Emma's done or how distant we've been this last year, I want you to know I do love you." She looks down. "You're like a daughter to me sweetie…"

I pause and close my eyes. "I…love you too Auntie."

* * *

Quickly, I pass the street where I fought nutless earlier. There are no ambulances, but the few cop cars keep me from dropping off that knife.

…Then again, leaving a military-grade weapon in the middle of an abandoned alleyway is probably a bad idea.

 **Due to common sense, your Wisdom has increased by 1.**

... _Sassy_ , but fair.

I don't see any PRT vans or troopers, but I do see some guy in a suit named Alfred Bester with a PRT detective title.

So… _yeah_ …

I am not getting near _that._

I let my fists fly once more at invisible opponents, skyscrapers looming on the horizon.

As I sprint through the streets, this time I'm in a different outfit and my new Egyptian skin.

Going off of the preview, I look like an entirely different person. Tan brown skin instead of my normal pale white. Hair that isn't wavy but straight. Lips not as wide and a bit fuller. Eyes a rich brown instead of green, and so on.

I'll have to check myself with this skin in a mirror back at home.

And take care of my perks…can't forget that.

…It is a bit…weird though. With a flick of a button, I'm an entirely different race.

Wonder what Martin Luther King would think about that? It would probably have made the Civil Rights movement more interesting…

I shake my head. Off topic.

Alright…let's think about this.

So…Emma got attacked by gang members, got saved by Shadow Stalker, didn't talk to me at all until I got back from camp, suddenly had _Hess_ as her new best friend, and then ended our friendship for... _reasons_.

Oh, and started the bullying campaign at school, _of course_. Because she hates me…right?

That doesn't add up…

I'm missing something here.

I guess that's why there are three icons and not just one. They're all relevant.

Hopefully there's a tidbit from Alan that clears some things up.

The longer I can put off seeing Emma, the better.

As my brown-colored fist cracks an imaginary Nazi's jawbone, I think back to what Emma could have done.

…If she came to me for help and support…

…If she told me about the ABB attack rather than her "cutting cords"…

…Hell, if she just let me talk to her over the phone while I was still at camp…

…Or if she….

God damn it!

If. If. Fucking if.

She made her fucking choice.

I mean, this is better than taking her words at face-value of course…but even if she's got some sort of PTSD over this shit, that doesn't make what she did to me go away in a magic puff.

This almost pisses me off more than if she was just being a bitch because of…I don't know, evil puberty? Because now, I actually feel a bit sorry for her, and I can't fucking help it.

Why did she choose fucking… _Hess_ to confide in, and not _me?_

The rest of my trip, I think only about the phantasms I'm hitting.

Soon enough, the skyscrapers on the horizon are coming up to my left and right.

* * *

It takes me just a little longer for me to switch back to being…me. The streets are a lot more crowded due to the lunch rush, so finding a place I can "change" is a bit harder.

I stare at the imposing skyscraper in front of me: the Topher Law Firm. It's one of the biggest firms in New England, with several branch offices here and there.

A tiny, little icon superimposed over it shows me where Mr. Barnes is.

It isn't intimidating…talking to a lawyer in their own office that your ex-bestie/nemesis threatened you with repeatedly… _not at all._

My eyes are glued on the front door.

Just put one foot in front of the other, Taylor.

The sooner you get this done, the sooner you'll be walking out the door.

I straighten myself, and begin walking.

* * *

Walking in was easier than I thought…because actually getting to his office is proving harder.

After missing his floor with the elevator…twice…because I'm bad at judging floors apparently…I finally give up and decide to take the stairs.

…Wherever the hell those are.

The floor I'm currently on is devoted to records and attorneys with a focus on criminal law.

The floor I need to get to is the one for family law.

…Not really sure what made Mr. Barnes decide on a career as a divorce attorney, but I'll find out soon with Observe.

…You know, maybe looking at people's private histories isn't exactly—

My thought is cut-off by a hand gripping my shoulder.

"Young Lady…" I hear a rather stern female voice behind me.

I slowly turn around, and my eyes widen as I see the words above her head.

"…would you mind explaining to me what you're doing out of school today?"

 **(?)  
LV ? Carol Dallon/Brandish**

* * *

AN: Sorry for the delay. Easter weekend was a bit busy for me. On the bright side, I now have Betas!

Thank you so much Hometruck and munchkinomatic for your hard work!

These chapters will from now on have some polish!

Thank you so much for the support guys! You have no idea how much it means to me. Until next time!

PS. Yes, the plural of Barnes is Barneses. Yes, it's weird.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: If you read about a truancy rant, that was the old version.

Let's Play a Game - Chapter 11

My breath hitches as my mind grinds to a halt and my heart begins to race.

My eyes bounce back and forth between the words floating in the air and the blond woman in the suit.

 **(?)  
LV ? Carol Dallon/Brandish**

"B-brandish?"

A super hero's talking to me…

 _A super hero's talking to me!_

 _Shit! What do I say? What do I say?!_

 _I… I… I…_

Like a splash of cold water, I feel something clamp down on my feelings. My giddiness, panic, and other such emotions are suddenly muted.

In a flash, I'm calm and I can finally think.

I start to breathe normally again and my heart slows.

I feel Brandish's, or well I guess Carol's, hand pull back from my shoulder.

As I focus back on the super hero across from me, I see her scrutinizing me with slight concern.

Yeah, I was getting a bit overwhelmed there for a few seconds. Thank you, Gamer's Mind.

Luckily it happened before I could embarrass myself in front of her…

Much.

Okay… what is she even _doing_ here?

I know she's a lawyer but…

She works here?

…Well, this is the largest law firm in the bay, and she is a local famous cape without a secret identity who's also a lawyer, so it makes sense…

Wait… didn't Mr. Barnes brag about working with her almost every other month?

…

 _Huh_ …

I completely forgot about that.

As I focus on her, I can see the last bits of concern bleed into impatience. She's still waiting on me to say something.

First things first though. Why can't I see her level or title?

Observe.

 **Target resisted Observe!**

Resisted?!

 **Name: Carol Dallon  
Cape Persona: Brandish  
Title: ?  
Professions: Super-Hero & Criminal Law Attorney  
Faction: New Wave  
Sex: Female  
Class: ?  
Level: ? EXP: N/A  
Age: ? Race: Parahuman**

 **HP: ? MP: N/A**

 **STR: ?  
VIT: ?  
DEX: ?  
INT: ?  
WIS: ?  
LUK: ?**

 **Status: ?**

 **Biography: ?**

 **Emotions: ?**

Nothing but question marks…

What?

But that's… you just can't! Not my _cheat sheet!_

...

Did I even get experience from that?

Well that's _another_ thing to worry about later.

Close.

Alright Taylor, you'll just have to do this without any foreknowledge or emotion list, like a normal person. Ugh. Just take this nice and _smooth._

I let out a short exhale. "Ma'am… what were you saying? I kind of… " I trail off awkwardly.

One of her eyebrows goes up a little and there's an uncomfortable pause before she speaks. "I was asking you what you were doing out of school today. Miss… " She trails off.

Oh. Right. Introducing myself, that's kind of important. "Hebert. Taylor Hebert, Ma'am."

She nods slightly. "Miss Hebert, I'll be blunt, are you being truant today?"

I furrow my brow in confusion. "Truant?" I take a second to look around the floor of the _law firm_ I'm standing in. "With me being… _here_?"

She nods, completely seriously.

I couldn't help the snort that worked its way out of my nose. She thinks I'm being truant… in a law firm, because _that_ makes sense _._

"Yeah, you caught me. I'm totally playing hooky! I decided 'Hey! You know what I should do instead of going to school? I should walk aimlessly around the largest law firm in the Bay for _no reason_! It's not like I have anything better to do with my time!' _No Ma'am!"_

 **Your "Taunt" skill has increased by 1!**

My eyes widen, as I stare at the box that just appeared in front of me. Quickly I close it out, and my eyes meet with Carol's cool stare. She's giving me an unimpressed look, her lips pressed into a thin line.

I slump forward, blood rushing toward my face. "Oh god… I did it again… I'm so sorry!"

Her seriousness melts a fraction into slight confusion as she nods slowly and rigidly.

Slowly, I bury my face in my palms, and let out a muffled, pitiful "Oh god. Oh _god_ … I just _sassed_ a super hero. What is _wrong_ with me _?_ "

"It's called being a teenager…" She retorts near instantly. I hear her sigh. "If you aren't being truant, then why _are_ you here, Miss Hebert? You've been wandering around the hallways for a few minutes now." She grimaces. "Please tell me you aren't a fan? Even if you have some business to tend to here, there are boundaries that should be—"

"I'm not here to see _you_!" I squeak out. "I completely forgot you even worked here! I mean Mr. Barnes used to mention it all the time but it just… slipped my mind."

"Oh?" I can hear the relief in that one word. "You know Alan?"

I nod slowly, staring back into her eyes through the gaps between my fingers. Slowly, I pull my hands from my face. "I'm actually here to meet with him. Well… not _here_ here _,_ but here in the building I mean. Aunt Zoe called ahead, I need to talk to him while he's still on his lunch break, and I..." I look down a little, my face still a bit red. "I... got a bit lost. I kept getting the wrong floor on the elevator, and I was just looking for the stairs and well…"

Slowly she mouths the words 'Aunt Zoe' before shaking her head. Her lips form the barest hint of a smile. "Aren't you a bit young to need legal counsel from Mr. Barnes?"

"What are you talking—"My eyes nearly pop out of my skull as my face flushes like a tomato. I shake my head vigorously. "Nonononono, I am not _married_ to anyone and I do not need a divorce, an annulment, or _anything_ like that! I've never even been kissed before let alone had a relationship!" I blurt out in a rush, my hands waving furiously in front of me.

She gives another raised eyebrow, but looks a tad bit amused.

"Mr. Barnes is expecting me and I just need to ask him a few questions about…" I trail off. "It's… personal, okay? I'm not comfortable talking about it to someone who's not involved. Look, I do have a doctor's note for why I'm not in school right now. It's… kind of related to why I need to talk to him too."

"Do you have your doctor's note with you?"

I raise a finger and open my mouth…

My finger then curls as my mouth shuts abruptly.

"…no, I don't." _Shit…_

She hums slightly in thought. "But you being out of school is a part of the reason why you need to speak with him, correct?"

I nod slightly.

She looks around the room a bit, clearly mulling the situation over. After a few seconds that feel way too long, she lets out a light exhale. "In the future… you should think about keeping your doctor's note and other such records with you for your sake and that of law enforcement. While a genuine explanation will give you a pass from most, there are quite a few truant officers that won't accept anything but proper paperwork, especially in the Bay."

She frowns sternly. "Normally, I would do the latter _but,_ since Mr. Barnes is expecting you… I'll let it slide this once." She raises a finger imperiously. " _Only_ if he vouches for you, otherwise I'm calling the police and they can take you right back to school. Understood?"

"Sure…" My eyes crinkle in confusion. "…isn't that being a bit…" What's a safer word than bitchy? " _…_ strict?"

"I'm both a PRT-affiliated hero and a criminal lawyer. Being a stickler about the rules goes hand in hand with both my professions."

I blink a few times.

"I have my reasons." She looks away slightly and lets out a small cough. "…Also, since my identity is publicly known there have been a few… _incidents_ at the firm involving idiotic teens now and then. I was lax on a situation like this once before. _That will be the last time_."

 _Wait, what? Huh?_ "What kind of—"

"I'd _rather_ _not_ discuss it." She answers darkly, her eyes filled with fury at the past. I hear her mumble a bit, something about the firm's stupid security not doing their jobs, and their replacements not being much better.

… _Okay_ _then._

She takes a deep breath, and I can see her relax slightly. "I'm assuming your parents aren't here with you?"

I wince a little, my heart stinging for a moment, and give her a nod. "My Dad is at work at the moment. My Mom isn't… with us anymore."

She nods slowly. "I see." She's quiet for a few solemn moments before speaking. "Follow me, Miss Hebert. I can take you right to Mr. Barnes." She turns behind her and shouts. "Jonathan, hold all my calls! I'll be back in a few!"

I see a man with glasses look up from his computer, giving her a quick "Yes, Ma'am", before turning back towards his monitor.

As she starts walking, I simply shrug to myself and follow her towards the elevator. Both of us remained silent for at least a minute, before she spoke.

"Is there a reason you didn't follow the sign to the Family Law floor then?"

I blush again. "...There was a sign?"

"There's a directory of the building right by the elevators on the first floor. You shouldn't have missed it."

Well, I did miss it. Probably because I was too focused on the power-created icon for Mr. Barnes and trying to follow it and old recollections of the floor number rather than doing the sensible thing… like looking for signs or asking for directions... Not that I could _tell_ her that.

The map icons are nice in terms of where someone is in the city… but not really helpful in a multi-floor building.

Well, today I learned…

"…I didn't see it. I guess I wasn't paying attention."

"Were you too busy playing on your cell phone?" She asks with a hint of humor. We reach the elevator, and she taps the call button, and turns towards me with the barest hint of a smile.

I frown. "…I don't actually own a cell phone."

She blinks, confusion bleeding into her smile. "Wait… you don't own a cell phone… in _Brockton Bay_?"

"No I don't."

She shakes her head slowly in disapproval. "That's… incredibly reckless. If you were away from home and ran into any sort of trouble, you'd be completely isolated. You wouldn't be able to call anyone for help: Not your family, not the police, not the PRT. Even with the—" Her face tightens up slightly in disgust. " _Enforcers_ on the Boardwalk and all the Protectorate patrols that's stillvery _, very_ dangerous."

"Well… it's a bit personal."

"Your _safety_ is personal. After they became teenagers, I made sure my daughter and Amy never left the house without them. Even now that they both have super-powers, I make sure that they have one on them all the time."

I look away from her. I don't want to get into that with someone I just met, super hero or not. "It's… kind of a sore subject for my family, alright Mrs. Dallon? I'd _rather not_ discuss it _._ "

When I look back, I can see her frowning at me. Great, now I feel a little bad. I will actually need one in the future. Not having a cell phone when someone needed an ambulance right by me was actually a bit frightening. If I want to be a hero, I will need a cell phone just so I can call 911 or the Protectorate.

"I'm going to see if I can talk my Dad into getting one for just those kinds of reasons, it's something I'm not particularly comfortable talking about with…" I chew on my lips for a second. "…well, a stranger. No offence."

"None taken…"

The door finally opens, to a thankfully empty elevator. We both enter. After Carol presses a button, we wait as the elevator begins its descent.

Neither of us speaks for the entire elevator ride.

…So much for smooth.

* * *

Only a few minutes later, we reach our destination.

The elevators themselves are in the center of each floor, with all the separate offices and conference rooms surrounding them.

As Carol guided me through the Family Law floor, I passed the time using observe on everything and everyone I could, but nothing interesting came up…

 **Ceiling Tile**

 **Dimensions: 23.735" x 23.735"  
Thickness: 5/8"  
Resistances: Fire (Class A Fire Retardant)  
Series: Cortega  
Color: White  
Standards: ASTM E1264  
Material: Mineral Fiber  
Noise Reduction Coefficient: 0.55  
Light Reflectance: 0.82  
Country of Origin: United States  
Owner: Topher Law Firm.  
Description: An unremarkable, every-day, average ceiling tile.** **What did you really expect?**

…Except my power having some sass to it again. Should I be worried that my power actually seems… _alive?_

I shake my head. Something to think about later I suppose. I frown. I'm starting to pick up a lot of things to think about later.

Carol led me down a hallway to the edge of the floor, and then started walking towards one of the corners.

I think this corner was kind of pointing to the North West?

Map.

Oh, North-East.

Well, I was close. Of course it figures that as a firm partner, Mr. Barnes would get a corner office.

As we approach, I can see a glass wall and door combo, with Mr. Barnes' name and position in big bold letters superimposed across it. Part of the glass has that frosted look to it, framed in an interesting design of wavy lines, a way to both look artistic and give the people in the office behind it some semblance of privacy.

Mrs. Dallon opens the door, and motions for me to go in first.

As I enter slowly, I see it's just a small entry office for the secretary, Mr. Barnes' private office presumably the room past this one.

A middle-aged looking woman (A glance above her head tells me her name is Janine Anderson with a level of 28) looks up from the sandwich she's eating at her desk and looks at me. She squints slightly and looks me up and down, before focusing on my face. She swallows, and puts the food down slowly. "Are you Miss Hebert?"

I hear the door close behind me, Mrs. Dallon's heels clacking towards me on the tiled floor.

I shoot a quick observe at Janine and glance over the mundane contents, before closing it mentally. Nothing currently relevant jumps out at me. She did recover from a small car accident last year though, and briefly scanning her face reveals some very light scarring. I probably wouldn't have noticed it without a blue box telling me about it.

Observe is a little scary when you think about it. Speed reading is too given that box took me only a second and a half to look over.

Putting my thoughts to the side, I answer her. "Yes Ma'am."

She nods. "Mr. Barnes is expecting you. Go on in." She turns towards my impromptu chaperone and blinks. "Mrs. Dallon?"

I start to head for the door, leaving the two behind me.

"Hi Janine, how many times do I have to let you know you can just call me Carol…" She pauses with a bit of a sigh. "Miss Hebert here got a little lost on my floor. I was concerned why she was out of school, and I feared it might have been another… _incident_."

I stop in my tracks, now focused entirely on the conversation. Damn my curiosity.

Carol notices and sighs.

"A December 11th of '09?" The secretary answers without a beat, a smile on her face screaming "I know something you don't know!"

Carol nods. "Well, yes, that fits, but I was thinking more of a May 14th of 2010 myself."

They havedates _memorized_ about this?

The secretary shivers slightly in obvious disgust. "We _do_ have a new security team, Mrs. Dallon. I'm sure something like that wouldn't happen again."

Carol just turns towards me. "Miss Hebert, did any member of security stop you on the first floor and ask you what you were doing out of school?"

I turn to face her. "Uh… no?"

Carol looks back at Janine. "I rest my case."

The secretary, Janine, frowns. "Oh…" Then she smiles awkwardly. "Well… on the bright side… at least the janitors were pretty fast… right? They had your office cleaned in less than three days, and considering the mess that's…" She lets out a whistle. "…a _miracle_. With that kind of cleaning experience, any future incident should only take a day at most!"

Carol groans. "Yes… the janitors were very…efficient." She pauses for moment, before speaking in a voice so low I could barely hear. "They even saved the upholstery. I really thought that was a lost cause…"

She blinks, and then her volume ramps back up.

"Regardless, I'd rather work in a firm where the _security_ is more competent than the _custodians_... Just because I work here and am also Brandish doesn't mean the security should be lax! But nooo… It's always 'She can make… _laser swords_ with her _bare hands!'_ this and 'She's a _super hero_ , she can handle it' that. I swear if I hear that damn nickname _Lady Lightsaber_ one. More. _Time..."_

"Hey, those phrases are exactly what got the old team the boot. They were completely disrespectful and out of line. The new security contractors haven't said anything like that." Janine's face slowly goes slack as Carol just stares at her. "Right?"

"Well…no, but… " She looks towards me with the corner of her eye. "There's room for improvement."

I look back and forth between the adults. What the hellhappened here? Now I have even more questions!

…I'm kind of afraid to ask at this point.

I shake my head and turn towards Mrs. Dallon. "So… is this enough proof for you that I'm not some delinquent… who's also an idiot?"

She looks slightly behind me real quick before focusing on me. "I never suggested you were an idiot, Miss."

"You thought I was playing hooky… in a law firm _._ Who _does_ that?"

"You'd be surprised."/ "Well actually…" Both Carol and Janine answer in unison, before sharing a look and nodding in agreement.

I look back and forth between the two. Fuck it. "Ooookay. Will either of you tell me what you're talking about? I mean… you've apparently memorized the dates and all…"

Janine looks to Carol as if asking permission. Carol just frowns and folds her arms. The secretary looks back at me and just slowly shakes her head.

"Seriously?"

"It's kind of funny actually."

"AH!"

I let out a squeak and nearly jump out of my skin at Mr. Barnes' voice right behind me, before the calming effect of Gamer's Mind kicks in. I turn around and see the man I once called Uncle.

 **(Topher Law Partner)  
LV 32 Alan Barnes**

Just like his wife, he has an arrow above his head from the ongoing quest, something only I can see. Beyond that, he looks almost the same since I last saw him: Big, tall, and full of red hair.

His hair is a bit different than the rest of his family, a few shades darker than his wife's and daughters' close-to strawberry blonde.

The only big changes I see are that he's a tad bit bigger around the waist, which given Aunt Zoe's cooking, is not surprising.

He also has a very big grin on his face from making me jump.

…Why did he intimidate me again?

The answer rushes back into my head. Oh, yeah, It's not the lawyers' looks that are scary; it's the paperwork they serve you.

…I did have a few weird nightmares involving him where after some of the bad days of Emma's taunting, I'd imagine him suing us for this or that on Emma's behest. In hindsight… they were pretty nonsensical…

Like taking Emma's spot in the lunch line or the last coke from the soda machine: trivialities like that. Nightmares didn't have to make sense to scare you though. I mean, the more horrifying ones involved my tormentors slowly becoming Endbringers in visceral and gory transformations, but there were a few memorable nightmares which featured Mr. Barnes.

Pretty sure I even had one where he was literally an anthropomorphic shark with a suit and red hair that ate Dad in a courtroom.

Though that was when I fell asleep on the couch during a Shark Week marathon… so, my fucked up imagination did have a weird fuel source.

…I'm rambling in my head again. I need to stop doing that… I shake my head a bit and focus back on Mr. Barnes.

"Mr. Barnes! Hi…" I take a deep breath. "Please. Please don't do that again."

He chuckles. "And let go of opportunities like this in the future? Not a chance kid."

He then smiles a bit… awkwardly, and reaches over for a "hug."

Not a heartfelt embrace like Zoe's. Not a loving one like Dad's. It was this weird… clumsy… thing.

His hands couldn't decide if they wanted to hug me by the waist or by the shoulders, so they just sort of decided to do _both_ and did this weird rubbing motion to my back… and just...

…

What. The. _Fuck._

It was kind of like one of those hugs at family reunions where people who don't know you but insist you have to hug because you're family, but it's still all kinds of weird since you've never seen them before…

I could barely contain my need to shiver.

What's with all the hugs today? Aunt Zoe, I understand, at least after what happened with her, but _Mr. Barnes_? Even if it is awkward… it's kind of… well, no, not sweet. The thought counts, but he loses points on presentation.

I awkwardly pat him on the back in return.

"I haven't seen you in so long, Taylor." He disengages and sets both of his hands on my shoulders. He looks me up and down, awkward smile still on his face, before placing a hand above my head. He whistles. "How tall have you gotten? I swear you were—"He takes his hand floating above me and moves it down by two feet to the side, "—this tall two years ago."

"I wasn't that short…" I shake my head a bit. "Did Aunt Zoe-" I see him flinch a little. "-tell you why I'm here?"

He nods slowly, the smile on his face becoming less genuine by the second. "Yes, she did. Something about Emma… bullying you?"

I nod.

"Wait, wait, wait…" I turn towards Mrs. Dallon, confusion and concern on her face. "You said you were out of school with a doctor's note, and you were here because of that… what does bullying have to do with that?" She looks over at Mr. Barnes. "Alan, do you know why she's out of school today?"

"I… actually don't… Zoe didn't mention anything about why Taylor was away from school. In fact, she didn't even think about today being a school day before I asked her." His face swivels to me. "Taylor, do you mind explaining why this couldn't wait until after school? I mean, I'm happy seeing you after all this time… but this isn't exactly the best time or place to have this discussion.."

… _Shit._

"I'm excused from school right now, but I did kind of forget to bring the doctor's note..." I wince slightly.

He frowns slowly. "…Why would you have a doctor's note if this meeting is about Emma's… bullying?"

His disbelief is palpable. As if it's _beyond_ Emma's ability to be a bully. Great… already fighting uphill.

My eyes dart between the two lawyers.

"Okay. I need a minute."

If I tell Alan about Emma in full… he'll clam up and be against me, won't he? He's completely biased when it comes to her, and there's no way I can convince him otherwise at this point. If anyone can just dismiss my journals out of hand, it's definitely the lawyer, especially when he's the bitch's father.

…But if I don't say anything… Carol will probably try to do her "civic duty" and force me back to school…

That's something I'd rather avoid right now, even with powers possibly making it more tolerable. I'd lose out on leveling for the rest of the day and pretty much ensure I'd be going back to school from now on, losing out on even more time I can spend on my powers the rest of the week.

No. I'm not giving that up right now.

I'll just have to tell them… About the locker…

I can already feel my rising anxiety and nausea being smothered by Gamer's Mind.

I take a deep inhale of air, before gradually exhaling. It's nice to feel power-granted clarity kick in whenever I think about the more recent dark moments of my life.

Before, doing this in front of strangers would be impossible. Now, it's just another task, if a little annoying, to be completed in the course of my quest.

I look over to Janine, and then back to the two lawyers.

I could ask for privacy, but…

Why?

The hospital staff that oversaw my case already know. The police who investigated already know. The whole damn _school_ already knows.

Really, adding two more strangers to the pile shouldn't be hard at all.

This is just to satisfy Carol enough to get rid of her and get my foot into Alan's door.

But, I have to be careful.

I can't mention Emma when it comes to why I was hospitalized, but I _am_ here to talk about Emma bullying me. He knows that.

It's probably best if I don't mention the trio as a unit at all working under Emma.

I'll just have to focus on what Emma's done to me… verbally… psychologically, what Madison's done to humiliate me, and on what Sophia's done to me physically.

Given that track record, there's no doubt in my mind who shoved me in the locker.

He'll probably check with Emma later, and when she inevitably lies about it, he'll probably think I'm the liar in turn. Be that as it may, my goal here isn't long term. It's to ferret out the information for my quest and my own burning curiosity.

This isn't about actually beating the bullies. I have to remember that. That comes later.

"I'm being bullied, by a number of individuals at Winslow since the start of high school." I stare at Alan. "Emma… is a part of that, Mr. Barnes."

I see his face twist a bit into something ugly, tinges of red coloring his cheeks beyond his facial hair. Already getting angry… _great_. I need to defuse him before he blows up.

"She's been… using things she knows about me to hurt me. My insecurities and such. I don't know why. That's the main reason I'm here, to ask you if you had any idea why? She used to be a sister to me. I just want to know what happened?"

He's still getting redder, but it has slowed a bit... Okay, how about this? "I talked to Aunt Zoe, we compared notes, and from that, I discovered that this change in behaviour happened… after a certain _incident_ in the summer of 2009."

Just like that, his angry demeanor melts. It's not instant, but over the course of several seconds, the red leaves his cheeks, and his shoulders slump. "Oh… I see."

I look over and focus back to Carol. So far, she's been quiet. I see she's focused entirely on what I'm saying. "As for the hospital… Emma's not the only bully I have. A whole gaggle of girls join in on the abuse, but there's two main ones outside of Emma: Madison Clements and Sophia Hess."

"Wait, what? Can you say that again?"

I blink and turn back to Alan. He looks… not necessarily alarmed, but more attentive for sure. Well, they are Emma's friends after all. "Madison Clements, and Sophia Hess."

He slowly nods, and then blinks. "Oh," He looks quickly between me and Carol. "Sophia's my daughter's be—" He looks apologetic for a moment. "—st friend." He pauses, before abruptly speaking again as if he forgot. " _Madison_ is also another friend of my daughter's."

 _O-kay..._

New best friend, huh? I snort to myself. No need to look sad for me there. That ship has already sailed, hit an iceberg, and sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic, ready to be a centerpiece for an overrated Earth-Aleph James Cameron movie. I'd love to tell that to his face right now, but…

Now's not the time.

I turn back to Carol. "Anyways, Madison and Sophia are more… active in their bullying, physically that is. Madison's favorite flavor of bullying is humiliation. Glue on my desk, my gym clothes missing, gum in my hair, etc. The hallmarks of annoying highschool harassment."

I close my eyes, and pause.

"Sophia's the more… typical bully. Tripping me in the halls and stairways, a rough elbow here and there, a shove to the ground, and so on. When something physically happens to me at school that ends with a bruise, ninety-nine percent of the time it's her. "

I open my eyes and look between the three adults. Time to bring it all in.

"I… don't have any proof though. No evidence. I've got journals full of me detailing everything that happened since last fall, with a few pictures and emails to boot. However, none of it by itself is incriminating. I know that's pretty much circumstantial at best, and at worst, nothing."

"Which is why you aren't here as a client, but here as friend of the Barneses? Because his daughter is involved?" Carol asks.

"Right. I don't have the money for that anyways. As for how all this relates to me having a doctor's note. I was… well, hospitalized. The bullies all liked to play off each other. Constantly escalating and one-upping each other on how to make my day absolutely miserable. I was a big game to them. A punching bag for their amusement."

I chew on my lips a little, looking down.

"Roughly two weeks ago… I was shoved into my locker. A rather cliche of bullying, I know, but a cliche I was never treated to before. Except it came with a bit of a… revolting twist. It was filled with… trash from the girl's bathroom: used pads, toilet paper, bugs, and more…"

I pause for a moment, taking a deep breath. Even with Gamer's Mind on full throttle, recalling everything in detail isn't pleasant.

"The contents were left to fester, to rot, and to decay there for the entirety of Christmas break. To make a nice stew for me before I came back after the holidays. So, I spent several hours covered in what has to be technically toxic waste screaming for help... Of course, nobody came. I could hear their footsteps between screams. I could hear some laughs. But no one helped. They just left me there. A janitor finally let me out at the end of the day after I had passed out from the smell, and called 911. I was in the hospital for a solid week; apparently I almost went to the psych ward after my stint in the ICU."

I take another breath.

"I don't know who's responsible for that…" I bring four fingers up for emphasis. "...'prank,' but I'm pretty sure Sophia's the one who shoved me in while I was in mid vomit. I'm pretty familiar with how she shoves. But again, I have no proof."

I stare back up. Janine looks a little pale. Mr. Barnes looks… both confused and a little mad. Less than earlier at least. Carol was just… odd, staring at me like I was a puzzle to solve.

I look head on into Carol's weird gaze. "You can call my Dad or Winslow to verify, but that's why I have a doctor's note about bullying, Mrs. Dallon."

Somberly, she nods, before sighing. "Miss Hebert… You deserved a modicum of privacy for this kind of discussion. I… hounded you earlier since I thought you were just another hooligan. Even after I was sure you weren't up to no good, I had to butt my nose into things to ensure you had proper business here. For that, I apologize."

...Huh. "Apology accepted, Mrs. Dallon."

She nods. "Will you please humor me for a few more questions?"

I… Uh… Fine. " _Just_ a few. Then I really need you to go." I look at the nearby clock. "I've got like… fifteen minutes to talk with Mr. Barnes left out of the lunch hour."

"Actually…" I turn towards Alan, who, while still red in the face, seems to be keeping his cool. "...I did start my lunch a little late. Zoe called after you left our house, and I decided to wait a little while before officially going to lunch." He smiles a little, genuinely this time. "I even took care of my one o'clock appointment for you. We have roughly thirty-five minutes to talk."

Oh. "Thanks, Mr. Barnes."

He sighs and lets out a bitter laugh. "No problem, kid."

I turn back to Carol. "Alright, shoot."

She simply nods once again, and continues. "Are the police currently investigating your case? This isn't simple bullying, Miss Hebert. This has escalated to aggravated assault."

"Oh. Well… They were… _but_ they stopped."

She arches an eyebrow. "... _Pardon_?"

I simply sigh. "The Winslow Administration apparently convinced the police investigating that it was simply a prank gone wrong and that it wouldn't happen again. Something to that effect at least. I only know about it since my father was very… _vocal_ in his ranting while on the phone."

I see out of the corner of my vision, Alan simply nodding as if that makes perfect sense.

She sighs once more. "Listen, in the past, I used to do a few cases _pro bono_. At the current moment, I am… entirely too busy with both work projects and New Wave PR events to even consider taking up a case, especially one with no solid evidence at this time… but, I have a few people I can call in the police, see why the case went nowhere." She gives the barest hints of a smile. "It's the very least I can do for you."

...Wow. That's actually really nice of her. Doubt it'll do anything in the long run, but… that's nice. Slowly, I nod. "Thanks."

She nods at me, before looking at Alan. "I'm sorry for butting into your business as well Alan."

Alan laughs. "It's not the first time Carol, and I doubt it'll be the last. Enjoy the rest of your lunch…" He looks down at his watch. "...all 11 minutes of it."

She sighs, before heading to the glass door. A brief mutter about how she'll have to reheat her soup is the last thing I hear before the door closes.

Alan just stares at the door for a second, before turning to me, the red only now fully leaving his face. He looks at me for a few seconds too long, making me uncomfortable. He shakes his head a little, before looking over to Janine. "Mrs. Anderson, even if Taylor is not a client of mine, I would appreciate if you treated all the information you bore witness to as confidential, as a favor to me if nothing else."

Still a bit pale from earlier, Janine somberly nods. "Yes, sir."

Alan sighs. "Come on Taylor. We'd better take the rest of this into my office."

 _It's about time._

First thing's first now that I have a little time. As I walk behind him, I stare at Mr. Barnes' back.

Observe.

 **Your "Observe" skill has increased by 1!**

Quickly, I skim through the entry in front of me. Only a few tidbits jumping out at me.

To Kill a Mocking Bird inspiring his law career, how he originally wanted to be a defense attorney before changing tracks into family law, the Barneses' "nights of passion," (Eww) and so on.

Apparently Anne was a "happy surprise." I wonder if they ever told her that? Slightly amusing, but it's not really a big deal.

As I read closer to current events, the "incident" that started the mess between me and Emma only got a brief nod that didn't add anything substantial.

The last few paragraphs did stick out though.

 **A few months ago he represented Shadow Stalker in her probation case, leading to her becoming Brockton Bay's newest Ward. While part of this was out of gratitude due to her role in saving his daughter from members of the ABB, a not-insignificant part was also due to the last embers of his original dream of becoming a modern day Atticus.**

I paused for a brief moment there.

He represented Shadow Stalker, out of thanks for saving Emma and his original desire to be a defense attorney, sure, but it was for some kind of… _probation_ proceeding which led to her becoming a _Ward_?

That's why she's a Ward now? I'd been wondering why she joined up recently. She was on her own for over a year at least, and seemed fine being independent. Before all the recent attention, she kept to the… shadows.

Ha.

As a cape, she barely had any time in the limelight.

Then, suddenly she decided to join the Protectorate as a Ward. Now she's marketed like any other Ward: merchandising; PR events; the works.

I always thought this transition from loner hero to Protectorate cape was her own choice. At least, that's what the news, PHO, and the PRT had been reporting. Apparently, there's more to it than that.

If she didn't join, what were her other options? If I take it literally, the only reason she's not in freaking juvie is because of this…

Did the PRT threaten an independent hero with jail time if they didn't join up?

…I guess the question is what was the probation for?

Either the PRT is taking too many notes from 1984, or Shadow Stalker did something really criminal here and is doing some kind of community service…

I don't like either option…

 **He is completely unaware of the current animosity between his daughter and Taylor Hebert. He was never as close to Taylor as the rest of his family once was. He was best friends with Taylor's father though, but that friendship had started to drift apart after the death of Annette and Daniel threw himself into his work. A combination of Alan never seeing Taylor at their house, nor spending time with Daniel, as well as his busy life at work and social gatherings managed to divert his attention away from the growing gulf between the two families.**

 **Whenever he did have an errant moment to ponder it, he would sadly chalk it up to the inevitably of life moving on. He would conclude that some friendships, no matter how strong, could be worn away by simple time.**

 **Emotions: Disgust. Fondness. Curiosity. Concern.**

Well, I always kind of knew deep down that Aunt Zoe loved me more than Uncle Alan. Not that I really blame him or anything. I wasn't close to him either.

It's nice to know that he's concerned and fond of me at least.

So, in terms of why I'm here, the meat of this information is that Mr. Barnes was the defense attorney for Shadow Stalker, and that's why she's on the Wards right now and not possibly in jail.

That _has_ to tie into when Emma was rescued.

Also, he has absolutely no idea what's going on at Winslow whatsoever. That's good too. If it had been the worst case scenario here where he was in on it… _somehow_ , there'd be no point in even talking to him.

I focus on the outside world again; Alan just opened the door to his office and is letting me go in first. I walk a few steps in before returning to my thoughts.

The Shadow Stalker thing is _still_ bugging me.

Alright, so… she was kind of… darker than other heroes. She only recently started using those nifty tranquilizer darts that were trotted out in all the new Wards merchandise and Q&As, but she's always had the crossbows apparently, at least going by PHO rumors. It's possible that she was being too rough on gang members with real crossbow bolts and the PRT decided to reel her in after too many people, criminal or not, got hurt.

There has to be a reason for why she hasn't been seen with normal piercing bolts as a Ward, even in fights against Brutes.

Maybe she missed and hit someone in their gut or their lung, or missed a shot on their limbs and hit an important artery. Maybe a bystander got hit by one of her bolts depending on her aim.

It had to be some kind of accident though. With something so inherently lethal, it would be easy to mess up on one bad night.

I still doubt anyone died from her stunts. She's a hero after all, sinister as she may be. There's nothing in the news about such a thing, and it's not like the PRT or Protectorate would recruit a murderer.

This probationary meeting is apparently a big secret since I've never even heard of it before. Last I heard from the press conference is that she decided she didn't want to go it alone anymore and wanted access to more support and resources.

Which is probably a big fat lie going by my Observe info…

It's not a lot to go on, and I'm probably making a few leaps in logic without any tangible evidence, but it makes _sense._

But, how did Shadow Stalker know Emma's Dad is a lawyer? How did Alan even know she needed a lawyer?

That would only make sense if… Emma _knew_ Shadow Stalker's secret identity.

"…Taylor?"

She would have to be someone Emma spent a lot of time with, a friend, to have that kind of connection. But everyone knows the Wards go to Arcadia, not shitty Winslow.

"Taylor?"

But _wait,_ that doesn't actually apply to Shadow Stalker. Emma would have had to know who she was before that. When she was independent. And that would likely mean they knew each other from Winslow.

But… but that's completely _ridiculous_. Madison being Stalker? That's ludicrous. Sophia Hess the psycho being the super hero Shadow Stalker! That's just cra—

"Taylor!"

—zy. "Huh? What?" My eyes slightly widen as I stare at Mr. Barnes.

Alan just sighs. "Kid, you spaced out there for a second."

The quest mark above his head was visibly fading into nothingness.

 **Completed: Talk to Alan Barnes.**

Which likely meant… Sophia… _was_ Shadow Stalker.

 **For a logical deduction, your Intelligence has increased by 1.**

"Are you okay?"

" _I'm. Fine."_

* * *

AN:

A few reviewers pointed out some problems the last chapter had. A few here and plenty at Spacebattles. There arguments were enough to convince me, so I decided to go back and edit the chapter a bit.

Yeah, after going back and doing a few edits, as I kept going, I decided I like this version much more than the first. So, rather than put it to a vote, I just decided to go ahead and upload it.

The old version is available as Apocrypha on Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity, in case you wanted to read it.

Next chapter will still be an interlude, but obviously, a little different.

Again, big thanks to my Betas: Hometruck, Munchkinomatic, Metz, and Demifailure!

See you guys next time! Hopefully on a better foot! Please let me know if you think this is an improvement.


	12. Chapter 12 Interlude 1

Let's Play a Game - Chapter 12 - Interlude 1

Alan

" _I'm. Fine."_

I blink at the sudden vinegar in her words. Before this, throughout this entire encounter, Taylor hasn't been angry once. Bitter, but not really angry.

Perhaps just going over the recent events has made her take an unwelcome trip down memory lane. How many times have I ended up, for just a moment, staring at that damned alleyway with a thug holding my daughter down?

I take a deep breathe pushing the thought away. Yes, I can understand a slight lapse when something like that is involved.

I focus on Taylor. It's ebbing, but that's definitely a cold anger. At least she's taking more after Annette than Danny right now.

Annette always did have a stiff upper lip.

I've been through this enough with clients to know how to handle these kinds of situations.

Rather than be the first one to engage with the unpleasant conversation while she's upset, it'll be better for both of us to let her be the one to initiate once she's had some time to collect herself.

God knows I needed to a little while ago.

I walk towards my desk and take a seat, rotating my chair to what little of the skyline I can see. I lean back, and cup my chin with my left hand, and just take a gander at the city. A few seconds later, I hear one of the seats in front of my desk scrape against the floor as Taylor presumably sits in it.

It's not the best view, but as a corner office this high, it's one of the better ones in the building. I'm facing away from the best parts of downtown, so there's no fancy towers to spend my time gawking at, and I'm also facing away from the bay itself, so I have no view of the ocean either.

Across from me to the north, an older white bricked skyscraper blocks my sight. Across from me to the east: another skyscraper. Relatively newer, its face is mostly glass and it returns my gaze with a slight reflection of my own building. There's nothing to write home about looking in either directions.

But, directly to the north east, there's no skyscraper blocking my view. There's this little sliver of buildings lower than me for several blocks. I doubt it was planned, but from here it's like looking down into a valley made of concrete and metal. Not a really thrilling view, but it's mine, and for what it is, it's _damn_ good.

As I take in the sights in front of me, my mind is left to wonder about the situation at hand.

Emma and Taylor were once inseparable. Our two families had been close to each other. With how much time our families spent together, our lives had become something of a Hallmark card, in _Brockton Bay_ of all places. It was a bright spot in this mostly dreary world.

I always thought it was tragic how time moving forward cut the ties between us. With Annette's death, Danny's depression, and Emma's ordeal; life kept dropping bombs on us, and eventually it was too much.

' _All good things must come to an end.'_

Events just conspired to pull our two families from each other. It's sad in hindsight, but it wasn't out of any inherent malice.

But to believe that Emma is bullying Taylor? It's just inconceivable to me.

Gradually losing contact with someone you once called a sister to the point you never interact with them anymore, I can unfortunately understand. The friendships I forged in my childhood have all fallen by the wayside.

Elementary school, high school, college, even law school; each iteration of my education I had a different circle of friends.

I remember promising them that I would still keep in touch. That I would go to our usual haunts to spend time with them. But, only a few years down the line from that, those promises were broken. Not shattered in an instant, but slowly chipped away over time.

To be actively malicious to any of them after our friendships ran their course? Unthinkable.

I want to assume that this is all some silly prank gone too far… but no.

She sought me and Zoe out for this, to sit down and talk about it. She even admitted she has no evidence for this last assault, which is what caused her to reach out. She specifically came to me as a family friend. That's not exactly something you do on a whim, and Taylor's definitely not the kind of person to throw a practical joke on such a grand scale.

From what I can tell, she's sincere about this. There's no ulterior motive.

This is not attention seeking, not some pathetic money grab, nothing untoward.

She's not even here to get Emma punished for the bullying, at least not primarily.

There's nothing I can think of to suggest Taylor wants anything more than answers to simple questions like 'Why am I being bullied? What happened to my friend?'

In this case, talking to the bully's parents is a very sensible course of action. Especially given how close our families used to be.

It makes _sense_ , but… I still don't think I can just take Taylor's word at face value about Emma being a bully.

This is the first time I've heard of any behavioral problems with Emma at school, and the first time I've seen Taylor in years! I would think the administration would be the first to notify me of any issues with her behavior, or Danny would give me a call about Taylor having trouble at school.

But, on the other hand, this is Winslow after all. I shouldn't be surprised if they aren't properly disciplining the student body.

And Danny…

He hasn't been the same in years.

If he's only doing the bare minimum as a parent, it's possible that this situation could have passed him by...

I'll just need to check myself.

While Taylor may not be capable of verifying to me who is responsible for the assault, I can just check with the school to confirm that this locker incident did indeed occur.

If it did…

I sigh.

Emma and I would need to have a talk about what's going on at her school, and why this is the first time I've heard anything about it.

"I wonder sometimes…" I hear Taylor murmur. .

My thoughts interrupted, I turn my chair away from my own special view, and towards the girl who I once cheerfully called my niece.

She's not looking at me, but towards the floor in contemplation. Her anger isn't completely gone, but her words are no longer dripping with it. They're more dipped in melancholy.

"I wonder if I didn't go to that summer camp two years ago… would things be different right now? Would Emma still be my best friend? My sister? Or would they turn out the same?"

She looks up, staring into my eyes, and I'm positively shocked. I even almost turn away from her, before coming to my wits. For a brief moment, I'm not seeing Taylor, but _Annette_.

Her face reminds me of the stoic expression her mother used to give me before another one of our arguments on feminism. A few I won, but many of which I admit I lost.

At least we weren't tallying points.

If it weren't so _haunting_ , I might have commented on it. Sure, she's not the spitting image of her mother, but enough of her is in there that it almost made me forget that she was dead.

"Aunt Zoe told me about what happened to Emma while I was at camp. How the ABB attacked both of you. I just found out about it today, and I would really like to know why Emma didn't tell me about it."

I blink and lean forward. "Emma never told you? _At all?_ Not even after you came back?"

She purses her lips and shakes her head. "No. She didn't."

I blink again. _What?_ Emma back then was closer to Taylor than even Zoe or I. I understand why she was so quick to befriend Sophia back then in hindsight, but she didn't even talk to Taylor about it?

"I came over to your house as soon as I could after I got back from camp." She continues. "I didn't know what was going on, but I had to talk to Emma. I'm pretty sure you and Aunt Zoe were home considering your cars were parked in front, but we never saw each other so you probably didn't know."

She frowns.

"Like I told Auntie, that's when Emma told me we weren't friends anymore. That I wasn't… _fun_ like I used to be, and if it wasn't for Mom dying, she would have ended it already a long time ago."

I feel a growing heat in my face. I was always under the impression that Taylor and Emma had a falling out just from the pressures of high school. This however... "That's… that's absolutely preposterous! Emma wouldn't just throw your friendship away for such a silly reason!"

She gives me that hard Annette-like stare. "Exactly."

The heat sputters out of me once more, and I'm left befuddled. "Excuse me?"

"I know it's silly _now_ , but back then I took it entirely seriously. Now, it's apparent that she was lying. At least partially." She shook her head. "Knowing about the 'incident,' that's the only thing that makes any sense."

I blink a few times. "Taylor… I'm afraid you've lost me."

"I always thought it was something I did, something that made Emma drive me away. I was just deluding myself. Even if I dragged things down a little, I was still Emma's best friend at the time. If she threw away our friendship due to the trauma, she wouldn't have mentioned wanting to end it before Mom died or talked about how much of a drag I was. That kind of put-down doesn't fit with Emma before the incident."

She sighs.

"I was on the phone with her right before it happened. From since we met in grade school to that point, she was completely normal, my sister. Sure, at that time, I did carry our conversations mostly by myself, but I definitely wasn't delusional enough to imagine the sincerity in her tone in the few moments when she did talk or the humor in her laughs. Those parts of Emma, they were real! If she was just 'stringing me along,' those conversations would have been a lot colder. I wasn't that clueless."

She looks down for a second, before resuming eye-contact.

"After the call suddenly ended, I tried calling back a _lot_ , but I never got an answer about what was going on. She was avoiding me for some reason."

I slowly nod. "Yes. She was avoiding more than just you I'm afraid. She completely isolated herself. Zoe and I thought that it would help her if she talked about the whole thing with you..."

"But she always said 'no' didn't she? That she didn't want to talk to me?"

I nod again. "More than that. She threatened us that if we told you what happened, she'd never leave her room. I'm not sure why, really. She was… very out of sorts." Just thinking about it pains my heart.

She nods to herself. "Yes, that kind of behavior, that avoidance? That's entirely different to how she was before the attack _and_ when I talked to her afterwards…"

She grunts in annoyance.

"...There was a moment there, where she was… thinking about something. I knew she was still my Emma though, but I think I did something, I don't know what, but it set her off. She practically transformed in front of me. That's when… well the new Emma came in, and started bullying me. She's been that way since, only getting worse and worse with her comments."

I fight down the impulse to defend my daughter, and just try to think about what she's saying.

I'm not sure if it's drastic enough to call it 'old' or 'new' but, beyond things returning to a semblance of normal, Emma did seem more confident in herself after befriending Sophia.

There were still a few moments where her anxiety would spike. It would seem like at any second she may have bolted back into her room and return to her self-imposed quarantine, but as time passed those tense moments happened less frequently.

Three weeks after the attack, they stopped happening all together.

Nothing quite so huge a change as to throw out a friendship on the spot though…

"What did you say or do at that 'moment' specifically? Do you _know_ you set her off, or do you just think so?"

"I'm notreally sure _._ " She takes a moment to ponder. "I… _think_ all I did was compliment her on her new haircut. I noticed it was shorter, but that's about it."

" _Oh..._ "

Taylor furrows her eyebrows. "'Oh?' What do you mean 'Oh?'"

Oh dear. "Taylor, one of the ABB thugs cut Emma's hair with a knife. The same one they threatened to cut her face with." I paused from the discomfort of thinking about it. "I couldn't really hear them, but... it looked like they were harassing her with the hair."

Her eyes widen. "Oh."

"Yes. Oh."

She looks down to the floor, seemingly thinking aloud.

"That… could have done it. Maybe? I don't know why, but it could have made her feel like she had to act like that. That she had to push me away and cut me out of her life, at least as a friend. I don't know for what _reason_ of course, but..." Her face suddenly blooms red as she glowers. "... _Sophia_ had something to do with it I'll bet."

I lean back into my chair. Well _there's_ the Danny in her.

"Sophia, huh?"

It keeps coming back to her doesn't it? Even assuming Emma has been bullying Taylor, I can't imagine her being responsible for Taylor being thrown inside a locker like that… but Sophia? A man crucified by crossbow bolts comes to mind, and that was just one incident of several. The most severe, sure, but Sophia is not by any means an innocent lamb.

"Right. Emma had to have… _confided_ with Sophia on what happened… and something she said had to have stuck with Emma all this time." She snorts derisively. "Like the talk you had with Dad after Mom died."

I blink. "Oh? I'm surprised you even heard about that. Danny was ashamed that I even had to talk with him. Did he actually tell you about it?"

She pauses for a second before speaking quickly. " _Well,_ no… I just figured it out. No one else was around to pull Dad out of his funk, except Auntie, who I did assume was the one to do it for a while, but thinking things over now, she was kind of busy taking care of me along with Emma and Anne. So, that leaves you." She shrugs with the barest hint of a smile. "What can I say, I'm _observant_."

Her humor quickly fades into a serious expression.

"Anyways, just from comparison, Dad went through a big change in attitude right after Mom died, and I did the same. When a person is that low? I don't know if it's from the pain itself or just the magnitude of asking 'Why did this have to happen, and how can I get past it?' that we cling onto whatever answers we get. I'm not sure what you told Dad, but whatever it was, it did get him moving again. He's thrown himself into his work ever since though. He was already a bit of a workaholic when Mom was alive, now he's even worse."

I sigh. Danny… when I said you should think about taking care of your daughter, that's _not_ what I meant.

Taylor takes a deep breath.

"I didn't have a drastic pick-me-up like that... " She pauses, and then mutters something I can't quite hear, before shaking her head and continuing. "...but I did pick up things here and there. Even some of the advice the guidance counselors gave me at that silly camp has stuck with me. 'The more you focus on the fish that got away, the less you can focus on the fish you've yet to catch.'"

She snorts.

"It's something along those lines. I always took it to mean that the more time I dwelt on the past, the less time I'd have to spend on my future."

She frowns slightly.

"At least, I'm pretty sure the counselor meant it that way, though it could have been entirely literal. He said that right before lunch."

She shakes her head.

"Mom definitely wouldn't want me wasting every day missing her when I could be living my life. It was one of the few things that helped me get my mind off Mom's death and enjoy the time I had at camp."

She focused back on me.

"I'm assuming the situation with Emma was similar. Since no one else that we know of talked to her, and suddenly she became friends with Sophia, do you think Sophia could have told her something like you did with Dad, that could have gotten her out of her funk… but in a more, well, _negative_ way?"

I rest my head back against my chair.

Sophia… being a bad influence on my daughter?

It's not the first time I've given the idea some thought, really.

But I'm torn.

Sophia did save my daughter's life, not just from the assault itself, but also the aftermath. When no one else could get her moving and living again, Sophia did.

And from the bottom of my heart, I'm grateful for what she did…

But Sophia can be _incredibly_ violent.

I've seen it both first and second hand, both by being someone she actively saved and by being her defender in court.

Before her probation into the Wards, she was very much the model image of the word vigilante. Even with powers making the law more tolerant of those types of capes, there were lines not to be crossed that Sophia did with abandon.

I remember specifically going over the case with her in private about the evidence the PRT had against her. There wasn't a sense of guilt over what she had done. An annoyance at being caught, certainly, but when we discussed the acts of brutality she committed? She had an air of… _satisfaction_.

That's quite a big red flag.

They may have been criminals, but in this society, we only tolerate a vigilante so far in that they support the police or PRT in their arrests, not those that supplant our justice system with their own.

If it weren't for me… Sophia would be in jail right now.

Her throwing Taylor into that locker? While I can't immediately assume she's guilty of it, not without any proof against her, I can't deny it's something that fits her character.

However, even if I can easily see Sophia doing something like this… before I do anything about it, I would need proof. Not just verification the locker happened, but something that would prove she's the one who did it.

This locker incident happened recently, and if Sophia did do it, it would violate her probation entirely. Even if it was in a more mundane setting, it's still a case of aggravated assault. She's only been in the Wards for a few _months_. Sophia is many things, but I don't see her being idiotic enough to just throw away her extra chance.

I stare back at Taylor.

Whatever ideology Sophia has, it didn't just make her confident in herself and her actions. It also led her to the point where she was mutilating her targets without a shred of remorse… If she shared that with Emma…

Oh dear.

It's _possible_ , very possible, that Emma at her lowest was very impressionable and that Sophia was the one to leave the impression.

I take a breath, sit up straight, and exhale.

I can't exactly explain to Taylor the whole situation with Sophia… but I can at least give some context to my side of things.

"I'm not really sure, Taylor. Sophia and Emma did meet before high school, and she did have an influence on Emma after the attack, but from what I know, it was a godsend at the time."

She looks at me with a confused expression, waiting for me to continue.

"Emma, after the attack, like I said, wasn't taking care of herself. She was completely isolating herself in her room."

I stop myself for a second, thinking if I should continue, for my sake, if not hers. It was probably the scariest moment in my entire life. Endbringers, the Slaughterhouse 9, Nilbog, and so on; all of them at the end of the day are just boogiemen if you have the fortune never to encounter them. Some tragedy actually happening in your life, to your own flesh and blood right in front of you; it has more weight than any fate that befalls faceless millions.

It's callous, but if we all cared about strangers as much as we did our own families, humanity would have gone mad a long time ago.

However, Taylor shared a tragedy earlier today. Whether or not Emma had any part in it, this locker event had to have happened in some shape or form. Taylor was never that good a liar, and I know lying when I see it. Despite her exemplary control, there was genuine sincerity to her words when she recounted it.

I can always verify it with a phone call to assuage my lingering doubts and paranoia, but right now, I can comfortably assume it did occur.

If that's the case, then Emma is involved in this situation, even if it's from sheer inaction on her part. The Emma I picture in my head, the one that I'm proud to call my daughter, would never be one to abandon Taylor to something like that. If she actually did that, or heaven forbid, was involved directly...

I sigh.

I should have forced Emma to go to that therapist. Demanded that she talk to him. If I did that, none of this might have happened.

I stare back at Taylor. The shades of Annette are still there looking back at me.

I really should tell her. Even after all this time, even if I was closer to Annette and Danny, it's still Taylor. She deserves to know what happened to Emma in detail. She's still practically family.

"Emma was broken." I pause. I close my eyes for several seconds, the image of a closed door and the sounds of quiet sobbing coming to mind. I force myself to continue. "She was barely eating or even using the bathroom. She stopped bathing entirely, and spent day after day in bed wearing the same pair of pajamas for a week. She went whole days without speaking to us, not even an 'I love you.'" I scowl. "Nothing we did helped… while she was wasting away, we couldn't do anything!"

I slump forward, resting my elbows on the desk. I cup my face in my hands and take a deep breath.

"My baby girl was dying _right in front_ _of me,_ and I couldn't do _anything!_ "

I slide my hands forward, and down onto the table proper, my hands gripping together tightly.

"The whole attack was probably the worst moment in my life, but the week afterwards? Seeing what that did to Emma? It tore me apart inside, and I was powerless to do anything about it. Zoe, Anne, and I; we all tried to shower her with love and support, but none of it got through to her. None of it."

I take a breath.

"For a while, I was hoping you would come home from camp and manage to help her, but after she forcefully told us not to tell you at all… well, she used more words in that brief interaction then she had in days. Of course we clung to them."

I shake my head.

"She was barely functioning, and if things kept on as they were going, Zoe and I feared we might have had to commit her for her own good. We pushed it off, we hoped for the best, and we never discussed it in detail, but that's where things were headed."

I slowly smile.

"But then she got _better_. I had a therapist lined up for her, someone she could talk to after she would leave her room, but it wasn't necessary. She was _finally_ living her life again, and at the time, I only had one person I could attribute that miraculous change to."

" _Sophia."_

"Right. As you said, just like I helped Danny out of his hole, Sophia must have done the same for Emma. If anyone had the most impact on her while she was… fragile, it would be her."

I raise my arms and shrug.

"But I don't know what Sophia could have said to Emma to make her… bully you, Taylor. Frankly, that's a question you'd have to ask either Sophia or Emma."

She frowns deeply. "Yeah, you're right. That's...not exactly something I can really do and get a straight answer though.."

She shakes her head.

"But… I can worry about that another day."

She pauses for several seconds. Musing to herself silently. Then she looks to me.

"I… I think I'm done here. You clarified a few things for me and it helped a lot… but I think I used you more as a sounding board than anything else."

I smile slightly. "It's not a problem Taylor." I adopt a more serious expression. "I'll… try and talk with Emma, okay? I don't know what's going on at Winslow. This is the first I've ever heard of anything like this… I'm still in disbelief about it."

She looks at me without a hint of surprise. Yeah, I deserve that. I sigh.

"It's been a year and a half Taylor since I've seen you in person or even heard you on the phone. Honestly, before now, I thought you two had just drifted apart. The idea that Emma would bully someone who was her best friend for over half her life is... it's mind boggling that she could be capable of doing that, but… I also know you're not lying to me."

I stare into Taylor's slowly widening eyes.

"I'm sorry. Emma's a soft spot for me, Taylor. You know me. You know how protective I can be. Right now, I'm defensive for her, not just because she's my daughter, but because I already failed at protecting her once. It's just hard to remember that sometimes I need to be a father rather than a lawyer, and I need to defend her from herself."

I shake my head.

"Regardless of what I believe right now, you've given me enough information to let me know that I have been too uninvolved in her school life. You've been very mature by talking to me about all of this. It would be, well, criminal if I simply dismissed you out of hand. I'll take a look into what's going on with Emma, and if I do find on my own that she's been bullying you, please, let me apologize in advance for not taking your word at face value."

I take a deep breath.

"We can get this sorted out. That behavior is entirely unacceptable, and if Emma is guilty of doing that to you, she will be punished for it."

For a few seconds, she's in a stupor. Slowly, she smiles at me. It's the biggest expression I've seen on her face all day.

"I know this whole thing was very sudden of me, and I'm sorry for intruding on you during work, but thanks for the help, Uncle Alan. It means a lot to me."

I smile in return. "No problem, kid. No problem."

She stands up and turns to leave, but after a few steps toward the door, she pauses. She turns back to me.

"One last thing."

She walks briskly around my desk, and stands right by my chair. "Okay, up."

Amused, I do as she asks.

She then gives me a surprisingly strong hug around my waist.

Shocked, I slowly return it, patting her on the back.

As she disengages, I can see her eyes are just a bit teary.

"Now, Uncle Alan, remember this from now on. _That's_ how you give a hug."

I can't help but laugh.

* * *

Emma

Leaning against the wall outside Winslow, I sigh from sheer boredom.

Sophia's stuck at track, Madison's… somewhere, and there's really no one else here. Well, no one I care about.

My phone's a bust too. There's nothing interesting on Facebook, and nothing of note on my other feeds.

I've even already checked my nails and makeup twice.

I don't know why Mom wasn't here on time like normal, but the wait is so _boring_.

There's no modeling today, so at least I won't be late to anything important, but if there's nothing happening, I'd rather be at home.

What could be going on?

Did Mom have any catering business today?

I'm pretty sure there's nothing big going on except the Manson wedding next month.

She might have picked up a new client and made a stop by the kitchen, but then she would have texted me by now.

I could always let her know I went to grab a bus, but…

At this time of day? Near _Winslow_?

Ew. No.

With nothing to do but wait, I can't help but think about how empty school has felt these last few days.

It was another day; another no show for Taylor.

It's been over two weeks and she still hasn't come back.

Sure, there's others that can sort of take her place: Charlotte, Michaela, Danielle…

But it's just not the _same_.

I have no connection to them. Nothing that makes it _really_ special. So in the end… it didn't really matter.

And I don't get it.

I'm at the top of the food chain, the pinnacle of the school hierarchy. I'm their _queen._

I'm big, they're little. I'm strong, they're weak. I'm a predator, they're prey.

Everyone's in their place. All's right with the world.

Or it should be.

But… the insults, the jabs, all of it, it's just so... hollow.

I've never really enjoyed it, but with Taylor, at least it made the world make _sense_. There was this satisfaction that everything was as it should be. It was… comforting.

But without her there?

It didn't feel the same. It was like I had an itch, and no matter how hard I tried to scratch it, it just kept getting worse.

I've been going through the motions, through the routine I memorized when high school started: Belittling those rightfully beneath me, listening to the thoughtless and often contradictory rumors from the bootlickers whose names I don't even care to remember, and doing my best at being the most popular person in the entire school.

But it feels so empty.

It's almost like it's all just a waste of time.

But I can't just _stop._

I _need_ to do this.

I need to make them understand.

If I back off now? I give them an inch?

It's all over. They'll pounce on that moment of weakness. I'll be like the old me again, and that's _unacceptable_.

Fake it until I make it. That's been my mantra. My creed.

I just have to keep going. It's easier now to fall into my role than it ever was before. This little hiccup?

It'll go away eventually.

Once it does? Maybe then I'll be the type of person that can enjoy it fully? Not just a laugh here or there, but actually feel happy about it, deep down?

I mean, look at how happy it makes Sophia?

It's the way the world works after all.

The strong are strong because they enjoy being strong. Otherwise, why bother? Why not just roll over and die?

If I stay confident, and keep trudging on, everything will work out for the best in the end.

And eventually, just like Sophia, I'll enjoy it too.

Sooner or later, things will go back to normal, and this emptiness will fade.

Taylor or no Taylor.

I take out my phone.

God, there's got to be something to look at on the internet right now.

A few minutes of mindless swiping down social media later, a car honk grabs my attention.

I look towards the street, and _oh thank god_ , there's Mom's car.

It's about time.

A brisk walk and open car door later, and I'm in the passenger seat.

"Hi Mom! How was your day?"

Silence.

Mom's entirely focused on the road, her mouth a tight line.

Alarm bells start to ring in my head.

Mom's _pissed_.

"Mom? Is something wrong?"

Silence.

She gives no indication of hearing me, her calm driving contrasting sharply with her face.

For a few minutes I think on what could have possibly made Mom angry.

It can't be work. Mom had the reputation of being a _meaner_ Gordon Ramsay when she ran her restaurant. Even now that she's just a caterer, no one on her staff would be _suicidal_ enough to do something stupid in her kitchen.

Did a client do something?

That's possible, but Mom's never acted like this in regards to a stupid client doing stupid things.

I mean on occasion she has given Dad the silent treat—

…

 _Ohhh no…_

"Mom… what's going on?"

Silence.

"Mom… please talk to me."

Silence.

"You only give someone the silent treatment when you're... really mad at them. I know it's about me. So please, just tell me what I did wro—"

Her right hand springs from the steering wheel into the air between us, her index finger pointing sternly up.

The message is clear.

 _Shut up._

The rest of the drive home is quiet. _Horrifically quiet._

* * *

"Sit."

I do as she instructs, and sit on the couch in our living room.

Standing across from me, with her arms crossed, she stares at me. Her eyes pin me down, and I feel the weight of her gaze. My throat constricts uncontrollably.

"Mom… you're scaring me." I squeak out.

" _Good."_

She continues to stare, letting me stew. I feel like a four-year old again.

Mom has only been _this_ _angry_ before (not counting work) four times.

Two of those were at Dad, one was at Anne, and the last one was at me.

Specifically when I was four, I stole legos from a toy store. They were purple. I never had a purple lego before and I wanted it. I didn't know any better, so I just took it. Smuggled it right out in my child-sized purse.

As soon as she found out, Mom didn't _just_ take me back to the store and demand I apologize to the manager. She also took me to the police and let me sit in one of their "interview" rooms. For a whole hour. I was completely sure I was being sent to jail.

She even had the cops take my fingerprints while I cried.

In hindsight, it was funny. It never went on my permanent record, and it was mainly just to scare the crap out of me.

Apparently Grandpa was a cop and was in on it, but even so, Mom took things like that super seriously.

She didn't want me ever to think that something like that was okay.

After that, I never touched a lego again.

Finally, she speaks.

"Emma _Addison_ Barnes. I will ask you a question. Be honest."

She _middle named_ me. Oh _fuck_ _me_. What the hell did I do?! Is this about grades? My modeling?! Did I go over on my Credit Card? What?!

As my mind raced, I had no choice but to answer. "Y-yes, Ma'am."

"Have you been bullying Taylor at school?"

I choke, my train of thought crashing to a grinding halt. She… knows?

...

"I… What?"

"Have. You. Been. Bullying. Taylor. At. School?"

"I…I don't…. I don't understand?"

"What do you mean 'I don't understand?'"

I can't talk. My world is flipped out from under me. How does she know? _How the hell does she know?!_

"You want me to lay it out for you?"

I nod dumbly.

"Right where you're sitting, not _four hours_ ago, Taylor was crying. She asked me why you _hated_ her. Young lady, what the _hell_ is going on?"

"I…"

I take a deep breath and think. Taylor isn't lying down anymore, is she? She actually came here? Where did she even get the _nerve_?

I'll worry about it later. I have to call Sophia when I can. Pronto. This… this is new. _Definitely_ new.

But for now, I have to _fake it_ until I _make it._

I take a moment to compose myself, to fall into my role. I relax. This isn't a problem at all. A simple misunderstanding. I can explain easily.

"Mom, Taylor came here? Really? That's all this is about?"

Mom gives a curt nod.

"Did she tell you some story about how I 'pick on her' all the time? That Sophia and I spend every day at school making her life 'miserable?' That we threw her into her locker two weeks ago and sent her to the hospital? You can't honestly believe Taylor was telling the truth, can you?"

I scoff.

"She's just trying to get attention, the poor girl. Something's really wrong with her, and she needs help."

I tsk.

"After we drifted apart, Taylor started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Ever since her friends were expelled for putting up those racist Empire tags at Winslow, she's been distraught and alone. Sure, Sophia did report them to the administration, but that's just trying to make Winslow a better place. She wasn't out to hurt Taylor personally."

I frown and shake my head.

"But after that, it feels like Taylor had some vendetta against Sophia. I'm really worried that from all this peer pressure, Taylor's gone a bit racist. This whole 'bullying' story? Taylor's just trying to get Sophia dropped from the track team."

I close my eyes and look down.

"Poor Sophia's got her track career to worry about in all this. She doesn't have time for something as stupid as bullying and pranks."

I look back up and meet Mom's eyes.

"Ever since I stepped in and tried to talk Taylor out of this whole mess, because of our old friendship, Taylor started accusing _me_ too. With everything she's said? She's practically a pathological liar now. You can ask any kid at school. They'll all tell you she's lying."

I sigh.

"It reached its peak when we came back from Christmas break, when she somehow ended up trapped in her own locker for a few hours. I don't know if she did it to herself, paid someone to do it to her, or what, but I'm pretty sure it was some attempt to 'prove' we were bullying her gone wrong. She was hospitalized for it! It was really heartbreaking to see her do that to herself. Do you really think _I_ could do that to her? Or that Sophia would jeopardize her chances at State this year for some horrible prank?"

I shrug, and just smile sadly at Mom.

"Do you honestly think after two years of just not talking to our family, that it was a simple school 'bullying' campaign keeping Taylor away? That's kind of silly, Mom. Taylor wouldn't come here without some ulterior motive."

I frown and look down again.

"I did tell you how she feels about you, remember? About how she felt like you were trying to replace Aunt Annette? I'm sorry that it hurt you, but those were her words, not mine."

Mom just keeps staring at me, her eyes still hard.

"Taylor didn't mention anything about a locker."

"Oh, she didn't?" _Perfect._ "Wow... I thought she would have told you first thing about how Sophia pushed her in. She must have _known_ no one would vouch for her. You can call the school and check. No one knows who did it, and she's still out of school while she recovers. The whole thing is just so sad."

Mom pauses. I keep my cool. Of course she believes me. Everything will be back to normal before I know it.

"Emma."

I smile. "Yes, ma'am?"

Her stern, angry expression breaks, and she suddenly looks morose. "Where did you learn to become such a good liar, Emma?"

My smile cracks. "...What?"

"You're lying. I almost couldn't tell, but you're lying, _right to my face_." She exhales, shaking her head. "Emma. I'm so disappointed in you."

I blink as the comment stabs into me. Why did that hurt so much?

"You… you're believing Taylor? Over _me?_ "

"Yes. I am." Her sternness returns immediately. "You're grounded indefinitely from this moment. We'll talk more about this _mess_ when your Father gets home. Go to your room."

She snaps her fingers.

"Oh, and give me your phone. You're grounded from it too." She puts her hand out.

"What?!"

"You heard me. Give it."

"You can't just—"

I recoil as her sternness snaps into rage, her face almost redder than her hair. _"_ I can, and I most certainly will, young lady! Your Father and I paid for that phone, we've just been letting you borrow it. This is my house, and you live under my rules! Give! Me! The! Phone! _Now_!"

Her shout echoes faintly through the house. Dumbly, I hand over my only way of communicating with Sophia, unwilling to dig my grave any deeper. It's locked, so she won't be able to see anything incriminating, but…

" _Now_ , go to your room."

Numbly, I stand up and quietly head to my room.

Taylor…

 _That bitch_.

She's finally fighting back… But through _Mom_... This isn't how it's supposed to work! If she wants to fight back, she's supposed to challenge me!

It's not fair.

Behind my back, I hear Mom start to talk on the house phone.

"Hi, I'm Zoe Barnes. My daughter Emma's a student at your school. I need to ask a few questions. Was there an emergency involving a student named Taylor Hebert and her locker two weeks ago? Something that involved her going to the hospital?"

My heart sinks.

"No problem. I'll hold."

 _It's not fair!_

* * *

Cricket

I feel the buzzing of the alarm on my wrist.

Time to wake up, and get ready for my shift.

Immediately I sit up in bed, turn off the vibrating watch on my wrist, and wipe the sleep from my eyes.

Jenny turns towards me from her place at the foot of my bed, looking at me through her only eye. I give her a pet and scratch behind the ears, careful to avoid irritating her numerous scars,

I smile as her tongue lolls out. She's done her time in the pits. Now she can lay back in her doggish retirement, while I go and fight day in and day out.

Eventually, I'll probably have even more scars than her.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

I take a deep breath, and raise my hands to my ears.

I brace myself for a moment, then take out my earplugs.

The nearly muted noises of the world around me explode into a cacophony. It's always a minor discomfort to adjust after I wake up, like turning on the lights in a pitch black room. Though, my ears adjust much quicker than my eyes ever do.

A few seconds later the noises settle into something I can comprehend, and I begin to hear the sounds of Brockton Bay.

Noisy traffic and noisy people are something that I've always heard. The loud stuff every city-goer puts up with.

But I hear the quiet things too: the miniscule groaning and shifting of buildings, the hums of the wires, and the constant pulsing from anything with Wi-Fi.

I can even hear the beating of insect wings and human hearts if I'm close enough.

It used to amaze me how beautiful some of the sounds were that only I could hear.

But that novelty wore off a long time ago. Now it's just as mundane as a sunrise.

I get out of bed, and slip my feet into sandals.

I take a few steps towards the door—

' _I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand.'_

—and turn around to grab my work phone off of my nightstand with my left hand, my right wrapping around my voice.

I'm still getting used to the new phone.

Kaiser set up all the Empire Capes with them. They aren't Tinker-tech, but they're about as close as you can get. He paid a pretty penny for them too, all so we can stay in touch without the fear of anyone listening in.

I have to remind myself all the time we aren't using burners anymore, because I almost chucked the damn thing into the trash a couple times.

Hookwolf already blended one accidentally out of habit. Kaiser was pissed.

My lips quirk at the thought for a moment before I compose myself. Work means being professional.

With a swish of my fingers, I answer the call, voice against my throat.

"Hook." I say with an artificial tinge.

"Cricket. Got some news before you head out tonight. We might have a new cape on the scene."

He breathes out a puff of air.

"It's a stretch, but Kaiser wants us to treat it seriously for the time being." His tone shifts, and I can practically see his smile. "You'll never guess who tipped us off."

I wait for him to continue.

"I'll give you a hint. You castrated him."

I think for a few moments, before replying.

"Be more specific."

I hear Hook laugh. "Okay, okay. You did it in front of a crowd after the idiot actually challenged you to a fight."

"Again. More specific."

He laughs even more. "Alright. Final hint, you threw his balls into a fire right in front of him. Right before Othalla could heal him."

Oh? _Ohhhh_. _That_ guy.

"'Rape you raw?'"

"That's the one."

I shake my head in disgust.

"Don't remember the fucker's name."

"Well, he can't be a fucker anymore, Cricket, and I'm sure he'll never forget your name because of it!" My teeth flash in amusement as he laughs a bit more. "Anyways, it's ole' Michael Donovan."

"Right."

"Yes, and he got the shit beat out of him again too, like the embarrassment he is. The good news, idiot at least followed protocol and passed on the info to one of our plants, giving us some valuable intel. He claims a new cape knocked him out for taking care of the trash and keeping the city pure. Which means he's still spending his mornings finding a weakling he knows he can beat to hell rather than looking for fights that actually matter in the long term. His heart's in the right place, sure, but god is he pathetic. Sometimes, I think it would have been a mercy to let you finish him off, but that's kind of the point isn't it?"

"Hm."

"Anyways, he described her as the following: a girl in her mid-teens, with pale skin, and dark hair. She was wearing a grey hoodie, black pants, a green scarf, and an old pair of black nikes. She's rather tall for her age, something around five and a half feet. He couldn't get a good look at her face due to the hood and the scarf and he's unsure about the eye color, either being brown or green. To tell you the truth, I'm actually surprised he even remembered that. A few of our men also confirmed separately that the PRT sent their own detective in for possible parahuman involvement from where Mikey was arrested. So, Kaiser's not the only one interested here."

"Powers?"

"We're not really sure. Mikey claims they were some unholy Thinker, Brute, Mover, and Master hybrid, but that's clearly just him talking out of his ass. The plant says he has a black and blue shoe print on his face, but there's nothing superhuman about it. It could just be some random person who actually knows how to fight. Mikey's not in the best shape anymore, so I'd put good odds on _Othalla_ handing him his ass. He did whine about her somehow knowing who he was and that he had no balls, but at this point? Who the fuck doesn't know? Pretty sure even the chinks know by now with how much that story's been passed along. Shit's priceless after all."

He laughs again a little before continuing.

"Myself, I think this thing is just Mikey trying to matter again. Just because the PRT are suspicious doesn't mean it's actually a cape, but Kaiser wants us to be careful anyways. In the future, keep an eye out for any new female cape that fits what little we know about her. Maybe she's a Brute, maybe she's some kind of combat Thinker. Something rather lowkey would probably fit. Mikey was arrested near four-thirty-seven Birch Street. Probably won't show up around there, but it's possible that's part of a route she'll use again, and that's close to where you'll be tonight."

"If she's spotted?"

"If you somehow find her and she's not actually a cape? Let her know Mikey's a freebie for being fucking useless. After how that idiot insulted you? Kaiser doesn't really see him as Empire anymore. If she does it again though to someone who really is Empire? Let her know she'll be deader than Mikey's balls. If she is a cape? Well, standard orders there: try to recruit her if she's pure, but if she's not or refuses?"

"Break her."

"You got it. Kreig should be telling the same to Othala, Victor, and Rune right about now, and I'm about to call Stormtiger and Crusader. Just wanted to call you first considering the idiot involved. It was worth the quick laugh."

"Ha. Ha."

"Well, at least it was worth it to me! Alright, enjoy your night Cricket."

"You too, Hook."

With that I hang up the phone, and start getting ready for tonight.

So someone beat that asshole up, huh?

Well, either that girl's getting a drink or a beating from me.

Either way, sounds like fun.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter is brought to you by the letter "T."

Thanks again to my Betas.


	13. Chapter 13

Let's Play a Game - Chapter 13

Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker.

Sophia Hess is a ' _hero_.'

Even over an hour later, that bombshell is still exploding in my mind.

Yet, here I am, perusing the Central Library as if nothing's wrong.

After the talk with Mr. Ba… No. Uncle Alan, I went by Public Records downtown for a copy of the police report. Unlike the hospital, they managed to print out a copy for me on the spot.

With that logged away in my power's journal system, I have some free time.

So, why not look for skill books in a public repository of knowledge?

Currently, I'm strolling through adult non-fiction.

I'm taking my time to Observe each book as I browse, and the boxes that pop up tell me clearly what is and isn't a skill book.

I don't want to just grab books at random to see if I get a prompt or not, nor do I want to increase the chances of accidentally 'eating' any of the books with a visible light show in such a public place.

Too bad Observe and Speed Reading aren't getting much experience any more from these books and their tiny blurbs.

I'm sure by the time I'm finished here I can eke out at least a level for each, so in the end, it should be worth the effort.

It's still freaking tedious though.

I've already Observed several history books, encyclopedias, and different biographies, but none of them are skill books or anything else my power can interact with.

I can probably read them for intelligence gains, however that wouldn't be as efficient as just reading skill books the long way, which is what I'm here for anyways.

I keep looking while my mind wanders.

The hospital, the _nazi_ , Aunt Zoe, Uncle Alan, Public Records…

Today has been so _busy_ , but I'm not tired at all. Especially when it comes to my emotional state. I haven't been this _easy-going_ in years!

I thought I'd still be freaking out about my powers quasi-Mastering me, but after today, there's no way I can be afraid of it. It's just too useful for me to think of as a bad thing.

Gamer's Mind…

If I figured out Sophia was Shadow Stalker without it, I probably would have immediately gone home and called it quits for the day to recharge. Hell, I'd have done that from just the talk with Aunt Zoe.

I wouldn't be able to think through any of this crap.

If I ever learned that one of my tormentors was a Ward? Without my powers?

It would've broken me for good. Even worse than the locker did...

Which would mean…

Huh.

 _Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!_ gives me a sewing skill? That should come in handy when I need to make a costume. And it also doubles as a… blueprint book? That's kind of neat. I guess recipe books are only a Cooking thing.

Whatever.

Yoink.

…

Where was I?

Oh, yeah.

Suicide.

Well, if that happened, I honestly wonder if any of them would even care that they instigated a suicide? Would there be guilt for what they did, or would they just pat themselves on the back for a job well done and move on to the next mark?

'Whoever can tear down a teenager to the point of suicide the fastest wins! Current record is one and a half years! We can do better than that now that we have the _experience_!'

My face twists into an expression of visceral disgust.

They probably _would_ be that sick, wouldn't they?

I blow out a puff of air.

Walking through the different aisles, I stop at one section and take the time to glance at the books in front of me.

Most of it's about computers: books on programming languages, how to operate a cellphone or laptop, web design, guides to word processors and spreadsheets, etc.

There's a book on Dragon NaturallySpeaking for Dummies that almost excited me, but a brief Observe told me while it's endorsed by the cape who shares the software's name, it really has nothing to do with her.

Why couldn't she have made a "How to be a Tinker!" book or something?

Oh well.

Fortunately, most of the books here are clearly skill books. Curiously, most of them overlap.

All the different computer language books are just skill books for a general purpose Computer Programming skill, and it's the same for all the "how to" books about Windows X, Y, and Z or Microsoft Office, them specifically netting a general Computer Operator skill.

The few books on typing also give a typing skill of course, and together with Speed Reading and the Computer skill, it'll be incredibly effective.

They all seem both useful and practical on their own, and amazing together, but…

I think I should wait on them.

Unless I develop some Tinker powers, I don't see them becoming necessary in the near future.

It's not that I'm planning on ignoring them forever, but…

Seeing as some skills are based on activities I've been doing all my life and I'm not gaining things retroactively, if something is part of my normal schedule, why not try to pick up the skill then?

I have a Computer class at school first thing, I play around with Basic as a member of the advanced class, and I plan on going back there on Monday. I'm bound to pick up at _least_ one if not all of these skills there from just day to day activities in that one class.

Going by that logic, it makes sense to cast a wider net by avoiding skills I can gain from just going to school.

So for now, I'll ignore the computer books, and look for other skills.

After a few scans at eye level, I glance upwards and my eyes catch something on the top shelf.

 _Sign Language for Everyone_ by Cathy Rice?

Observe.

A skill book for Language: ASL?

Huh. That's the first time I've seen a sort of hierarchy inside of a skill title. I guess that means Language itself is a skill of some type, with different kinds of languages fitting underneath its umbrella.

Hmm.

I could probably grab several language primers here if that's the case. I wonder why I don't have an English skill, but honestly, it's not important.

American Sign Language though…

Thinking about where I can use it, I can't help but smile.

Why not? It's not something I'll pick up in school and it's basically free experience points.

Who knows, maybe I can pull off a Miracle on 34th street in my hero career? While I'm not likely to run into any deaf kids with Panacea living here, it's still a possibility.

Eventually, when I do run into someone who's deaf, it'll come in handy.

I grab the book and move on with my search.

Before I can find a new book, my mind wanders again back to today's horrible revelation.

I sigh. I almost distracted myself from it again.

Beyond actually knowing her identity, the whole talk with Uncle Alan did lead me to believe that Emma's new attitude can be entirely blamed on her.

Sophia Hess, the _'heroine'_ Shadow Stalker, is responsible for all of this.

I'm going to have to keep that in mind whenever I do confront them.

At least the situation doesn't feel so insurmountable anymore.

Without all the emotional baggage holding me down, everything's so much _clearer_. It makes getting things done so much easier.

Before this week, I never let myself dwell on this. I went to school, endured, came home, did my best not to think about any of it, and then came back the next day.

I just sat there and took it.

Sure, I tried in the first few months to reason with Emma and ask the teachers for help, but when those went nowhere, I gave up.

Last fall I started writing the journals, but that's not exactly being proactive is it?

But now, without my depression holding me back, I did more today about the bullying then I have in the entire last _year_.

Uncle Alan and Aunt Zoe, people I thought I would never see again, are actually going to look into Emma's behavior.

Things might actually get better for once!

At least where she's involved for sure.

I just have to figure out what to do about Sophia the fucking _hero_ , Shadow Stalker.

 _No._

That's wrong.

She's just Shadow Stalker.

She's no hero.

Knowing Sophia first hand, I don't think she went out of her way to save people because it was the right thing to do.

I think she just hurts criminals because she _can_.

She's just an angry vigilante who hurts acceptable targets, not a hero who saves people.

The only reason she got chained to the Wards is because she did something stupid and got arrested for it.

Nothing really changed as far as Winslow is concerned. I just know now that she's a bully on a grander stage. That's all.

A bully with super powers, but a bully nonetheless.

This whole thing has even soured my opinion of our branch of the Protectorate for recruiting her.

What kind of group sees her as hero material?

Sure, it's tempered by the knowledge that she was forced into being a Ward on pain of jail time, but even with that making it at the least a little bit more palatable, it's still something that bothers me. It bothers me a lot actually.

Ugh.

I'm being biased.

No matter how I look at her or what she does as a cape, I'm always going to see her with victim-tinged glasses.

Given the crime in town, I have to admit it's practical to use what resources you have.

At least the PRT and Protectorate are keeping her on a short leash, and they know about her problems.

I guess my main issue with her being recruited comes down to one thing.

Do they know about Winslow, about her behavior there?

Brandish, a _real_ hero, called it aggravated assault. That has to break her probation.

...Is that why the police just stopped their investigation for such a flimsy reason? So the PRT could protect their precious Ward so they can use her where they need her?

Am I just acceptable collateral?

…

I shake my head.

No.

I'm jumping to conclusions because I'm still mad.

I might be mistaking incompetence for malice.

…

I can't do anything about this now but worry and fret.

I should just focus on what I _can_ do and put this mess off until Monday when I'm face to face with them.

Hmm.

Well, that's one downside to Gamer's Mind.

When I see Sophia on Monday, I'll have the inhuman self-control to stop myself from decking her right in the face.

Okay, I need to be productive right now.

I have a mana bar that I have no idea what to do with.

I'm surrounded by tens of thousands of books.

Let's find a book to help with my mana.

* * *

I close the front door of my house, and sigh in frustration.

Unlike this morning, I could no longer level sprint efficiently without a costume.

I went over my skills before I left the library, and given I can now Sprint at a maximum speed of thirty-six miles per hour for over ten minutes, it's clearly a parahuman ability. I'm no Velocity, but I can now outrun every Olympic runner in history.

Sure, I can Sprint at a slower speed, but since the skill isn't being pushed to its limit, I barely get any experience for it anymore.

I do have my Egyptian skin that makes me look and sound like an entirely different person, a form I could use to out myself willy nilly in public to keep leveling different skills…

But I don't think that's the smartest move without an actual costume or more skins.

I'd rather have more buffers between myself and my hero identity before I do something like that.

For now, the best way to level Sprint is to practice somewhere like the Trainyard. It's a large place that's mostly abandoned and empty, so it would give me plenty of room to run, away from the prying eyes of a city's worth of cell phones.

Another annoyance: at the library, there's a maximum number of books that you can check out at a time.

It differs a little from place to place, but for Brockton Bay's Central Library, the limit is one hundred books.

I would have _loved_ to have checked out a hundred skill books.

But, thinking about it for more than a second, I knew that would have been a terrible idea.

A teenage girl checking out a hundred books at once would be suspicious. Any group that pays attention to that sort of thing would probably investigate me as a possible Thinker.

And I don't want anyone to do that.

Sure, Tinkers are the bigger force multiplier, but Thinkers are a boost to whoever has them in their own way. Knowledge is power, and proper intelligence can make all the difference.

For the sake of subtlety and to avoid conscription, I forced myself only to check out what I could reasonably carry in one trip… sans Inventory.

Going back for more books after dropping off one arm load would also raise eyebrows, so in the end I left with only seven books.

I chose the books such that they gave the impression I was just hunting for a new hobby. They weren't something way out there like quantum physics or relativity textbooks. Besides, those weren't actually skill books…

The books I checked out are all circulating, so I have three weeks to read them before either getting an extension or returning them.

I'm sure I can get away with returning them in a week without it looking too weird, but if there's a different shift in charge, they shouldn't notice too much. Besides, I only have to deal with an actual librarian when checking books out.

Too bad I can't really use my skin for this. I need a photo ID to get a library card, and when it comes to paperwork, my Egyptian self doesn't exist.

...Maybe I'm being paranoid about this, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

There are ways I can streamline this in the future: I can always drag Dad along and have him carry some too or switch it up by going to different libraries.

Sooner or later, my Speed Reading skill will be leveled to the point that I can read everything from just glancing through the books so eventually all this cloak and dagger will be pointless, but for now, I can't be too careful about outing myself.

In my room, I take each book out of my inventory and place it on my desk.

 _Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!: The Complete Guide to Quiltmaking, Sign Language for Everyone,The Stanislavski System: The Professional Training of an Actor, Balancing and Sport Acrobatics, Parkour and Freerunning Handbook, Complete Idiot's Guide to Ventriloquism_ , and _Meditation for Beginners._

The big one is Meditation, because it deals directly with mana.

Unfortunately, it's the only book in my hunt today that does.

If anything gives me an insight on how to use mana, this one will be it. The problem is that it doesn't actually use mana. It only helps me regenerate it faster.

So, it could be a dud and I might need to find something else to figure it out, but…

Depending on how it works, it might just do the job.

Mana is some form of energy. Magic hoopla or not, my power's very nature makes whatever mana is somewhat quantifiable, and the closest comparison I have is it being some nebulous "pool" of energy.

This "pool" or better yet, "battery," has been full as long as I've been aware of it. I haven't used any of it yet, but I know it's also gotten larger every time I level up or gain more intelligence. It's getting bigger and bigger.

In games, the mana bar holds an amount of energy that gets used up and is slowly charged back to full. I'm not using my mana right now, but it's possible I'm actively connected to whatever regenerates it. My "battery" is effectively always plugged into a wall.

So, I don't know what the "power grid" here is, but I have to be connected to some greater source of energy to recharge...

As my "battery" gets bigger, that connection to whatever source of energy should also be stronger, and especially so while I meditate.

Hopefully, even while I'm full of mana, that connection should still exist.

If there's any moment I should be able to feel and use my mana, that would be the time.

Given that all aspects of my power so far have had some form of physical connection to myself, and this is the only skill I have that has any impact on my mana directly, I should feel _something_ when I use it.

...Sure, this is all a big guess, but it's my best one right now.

I check my clock: Two-Forty-Eight PM.

I pick up the Meditation book and flip to the end.

It's thin, only ninety-nine pages.

I should easily be able to read through this before Dad gets home, and get in some meditation practice.

Well, better get started.

* * *

 **Your "Speed Reading" skill has increased by 1!**

 **For insightful reading, your Wisdom has increased by 1!**

 **You have read the skill book [** _ **Meditation for Beginners**_ **]. You learned the Meditation skill!**

 **[Meditation (active) Lv 1 EXP 00.00%]  
A skill used to recover Mana. With more  
mastery, more mana can be recovered.  
Cannot be used while moving or doing another action.  
20 MP gained per minute. **

* * *

I close the book, look up, and blink as the knowledge funnels into place. I know how to meditate now. The posture, the breathing, and the focus I need…

But that book… unlike the First Aid skill book... That was… different.

 _Very_ different.

The First Aid handbook was very much a no-nonsense manual. There were guides, lists, step-by-step processes. It even had anagrams to remember in emergencies, like the ABCs: airway, breathing, and circulation.

This Meditation guide? There's a lot of flowery language, and next to no technical information. Sure, it does have a few chapters on what to do and how to focus, but after that? It's mostly focused on emotional and spiritual concerns.

Going through this book felt more like I was reading a hippie's guide to meditation rather than a PhD's.

Even so, it's the most spiritual book I've read that has had any sort of impact on me.

Spiritual… Religious… The two terms to me have always been quasi-synonymous.

I've always been kind of agnostic, simply because I've never cared about religion. The same with both Mom and Dad. We've never been to church outside of holidays or done anything particularly religious together. Honestly, I like the concept that one day after I'm dead, I'll be able to see Mom again… but…

No.

It's not something I can actively believe or put my hopes on.

Maybe the afterlife exists. Maybe it doesn't.

But I'd rather focus on the here-and-now than try to meander through the constant back and forth of "Our god is real! No, our god is real!" crap to figure out which religion is the one for me.

Even then, it's not like it would do much for me.

The Triumvirate and even the Golden Man himself haven't fixed all of the world's problems, so if a god or messiah does exist, they'll have to do a whole hell of a lot before I ever consider worshiping them.

But this book isn't the typical religious stuff I hear about. There's segments about moving on and letting go of the past. Getting rid of your tethers to events or emotions that hold you down and prevent you from being the kind of person you want to be.

It's all very internal and about self-improvement. Sure, the book does says that meditation doesn't require me to be spiritual, but given all the stuff about personal enlightenment, _dharma_ , and loving-kindness…

It's the most contact I've ever had with any religious material. It's definitely more connected to Eastern religion than Western, but it's religious all the same.

And… it sounds really good to me.

If I followed everything in this book… well, when's the last time I've had true peace of mind and could just live my life without worry? I don't know if I've ever felt like that, even before Mom's death…

There was always something to be afraid of, something to worry about, something that filled me with anxiety, however minor. Getting rid of all that?

It sounds… great. But I don't think I can do it. It requires steps I can't take.

There's an entire chapter on "forgiveness meditation" and a quote by some monk that states "Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed."

It's… nice and warm, but in practicality, I can't bring myself to think like that. As it is, I don't think I can even forgive _Emma_ , let alone Sophia, and both of them are insignificant compared to the more heinous people in the Bay.

If someone ever hurt, or killed Dad… I'd probably hate them for the rest of my life. The idea of forgiving something of that magnitude...

I'm not that good a person.

Maybe one day? But now…

No.

I shake my head. I read this book to figure out my mana, not for a philosophy lesson with a side of self-help!

I've already gotten plenty of that just from my depression evaporating, so I need to focus.

This is all a step into me becoming a hero, and while some of the mentality in here isn't bad… I can't fix a city and fight crime with love, compassion, and goody-goody feelings alone.

Mana though? That might be my ticket to actual super powers, with an emphasis on "super."

It's the main energy source for practically all special abilities in RPGs. I have no idea what I could do with it, but if just punching gave me a skill on unarmed combat, playing around with mana should give me something with a lot more oomph.

And that's something that could help me make a _real_ difference in this city.

What time is it?

Three-oh-one PM. Good, I should have a few hours before—

My head shoots back to the clock in shock.

...Did I just read a book in under fifteen minutes?

The _fuck?_

It took me over _three hours_ to read the First Aid handbook.

I think about it for a moment.

Okay, the First Aid book was a bit of a dry read, my mind wandered a few times away from the text, and there were some examples I acted out, but…

The difference shouldn't be that dramatic? Right?

Sure, this Meditation book is interesting, but if I knew I could read the book that fast, I would have just read the damn thing at the library!

I purse my lips.

No, no.

This book is thin, had a relatively big font, and isn't extremely technical. Not all books are going to be that quick to read, especially if I have to force myself to chug through it.

This is probably still the safer option for the time being. Until I can read a book from literally flipping through it, it's probably better for me to check them out and read them at home.

I'm already not looking forward to reading the quilts book…

Making a costume for myself is definitely something I'm interested in. The reading I'll have to do to learn the skill?

Not so much.

Well, if I'm ahead of schedule, I might as well use it.

I walk over to my bed, put my pillow in the middle, and sit on it, my back to the wall. I cross my legs, knees pointing down. Posture is important, so I keep my back straight. I place my hands in my lap and close my eyes.

Then, I just breathe.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Good.

It's an active skill, so once I'm fully comfortable…

Meditation.

The outside world sort of… dims.

It's still there, it's just not where my focus is.

I'm focused on me and me alone.

The outside world, it's just background noise.

The beating of my heart, the air flowing through my lungs, the minute shiftings of my body, and the myriad sensations flowing over me: that's where my attention is.

Meditation is about awareness of self.

For this moment, I'm focused on my body.

I'm not focusing on my emotions or my spirit…

Do I even have a spirit? Mana is like this nebulous energy source, so maybe? Or is it a soul? Are they the same thing? Different? It's something I've—

I let the thought drift away and focus back on my breathing.

The mind wanders. It's normal. It happens all our lives. As long as I remember to drag my mind back to what's important, I can progress.

That training of refocusing on the present is how I get better at meditating.

Because that's what Meditation is. It's constantly training that awareness of the present. Being mindful of the current now. Not tying yourself to memories, imaginations, or fantasy. Not drifting beyond now into past or future, but staying in the present.

Me. Here. Breathing.

That's what's important.

I have to focus on it.

Because somewhere inside me, there is my mana.

It's a pool… battery of energy special to me.

I know I have it. I just can't feel it.

I have to change that. I have to become aware of it, and feel it inside me.

So, I breathe.

In.

 _Ba bump_

Out.

 _Ba bump_

In.

 _Ba bump_

Out.

 _Ba bump_

I focus on my breathing and my heart.

...

I focus.

…

…

…

Focus.

…

…

…

…

...

I hear something.

No…

I feel something.

There's… this substance, and it feels like it's moving from my head… to the center of my torso?

And it's… swirling there.

Is that just my blood flowing from my head to my heart?

Wait.

Blood doesn't flow like that.

There's no pumping of an organ. No arteries or veins, it just flows like water down a river from my head directly in a line to my chest.

And the river suddenly just doubled in size!

In shock, I open my eyes and place a hand on my chest.

The channel from my head to my torso shrinks to a fraction of what it was.

Clearly, I'm no longer meditating, but the sensations inside me are still there. God, how could I not feel that before!

It feels like... static electricity, but… on the _inside_ of my body! That feeling of energy in my chest is... weird, but oddlyright _._

I blink a few times. It got dark.

I check my clock. Five Forty-Three PM.

Huh. Was I really out of it for that long?

I turn my eyes forward, and notice three boxes in front of me.

 **Your "Meditation" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Achievement Unlocked: A First Step into a Larger World  
Reward: Mana Awareness Perk**

 **[Mana Awareness]  
Allows the user to feel the flow of Mana  
within themselves, making it easier to  
use and manipulate. **

I place both hands on my chest. I can't feel anything different through them, but separately, I can feel the thrumming energy inside me. It's as if the energy is a limb unto itself.

This sensation… this is _my Mana._

Okay… So how the hell do I use it?

...

It's in my torso, so… what about moving a little bit of it to my hand?

I place a hand out in front of me, cupping it as if I'm about to hold something.

Unconsciously, like moving any limb, trickles of energy slide away from the maelstrom in my chest through my body. They snake along the inside of my arm and then…

My hand starts glowing, and suddenly my room is awash in azure light.

A smile begins to form on my face.

I focus. The energy in my hand is no longer connected to my battery of Mana and the glow of my hand coalesces into a single point.

A tiny blue star floats above the palm of my hand.

Wow. I made this. _I made this._

As I stare at the small glowing sun, I see it begin to contract.

Then it expands back to normal.

Then it contracts again.

And it repeats this several times, and I can _feel it._ In wonder, I bring the hand holding the orb of light up to my face and stare as it shifts.

It's like a tiny glowing heart.

The shifting gets faster and faster.

Listening to it carefully, I can almost hear its tiny beats.

The shifting gets even more rapid.

No… it's not beating. The noise is more like...

Suddenly it stops shifting, and expands to twice its original size.

...a beeping?

The orb in my hand explodes in a blast of light and smoke, sending me falling back!

My head hits the wall by my bed with a bang.

I blink, and then cough, a puff of smoke exiting my mouth and mingling with the smoke coming off of my face.

Ow.

 **A skill has been created through a special action.**

 **Through practicing the use of unstable mana, a skill to create magic explosives, "Energy Bomb", has been created!**

I sigh.

Okay, I deserved that.

* * *

AN: Hey guys. First things first, I edited Chapter 6. Gamer's Mind and Gamer's Body are now retconned as Perks to be more consistent with my own Gamer Setup.

It simply makes sense given how unique they are and how I'll treat passive boosts that aren't leveled in the future like Mana Affinity. Yay for consistency in logic.

Second, sorry for the delay guys.

Life just kept me busy: Several projects at work, Black Belt Camp, my computer failing to boot, etc.

The chapter actually has been finished for over a week, I just haven't had time, nor my betas, to really edit it in full. Given the above change was made sometime last week, I do think that holding on to it was worth it until I was ready to release.

Besides that, hopefully I can get the next chapter out sooner.

Thank you to my Betas: Hometruck, Demifailure, and Munchkinomatic. You guys help polish my chapters, and I'm very grateful for your help.

See you readers next time!


	14. Chapter 14

Let's Play a Game – Chapter 14

A few solid minutes of the strategic use of a box fan later, and the smoke smell from my room was finally eliminated. It is a little embarrassing, but at least now I know not to stick my face into glowing objects coming out of my hands. In hindsight, that should be obvious, but alas, apparently even at my age I can be distracted by small shiny objects. No one must ever know.

With that taken care of, I still had some time before Dad made it home. Given the ridiculously large breakfast I made this morning, it would probably go over better if we just ate leftovers for dinner, but I do have that dinner quest for making him a hot meal and that's just easy experience points. I shift my weight from my left foot to my right, and vice versa as I think. It would just need to be something simple. It's not like I had too many options anyways at this time of night without any prep work done.

Before I started on dinner though, there is one thing I need to focus on: My perk point. A few mental commands later, and the tan box is open in front of me. The Titles box off to the side is still empty, but the Perks box now has Mana Awareness in its list, underneath both Gamer's Body and Mind. That's not the important thing to note. The Trees button at the bottom is no longer gray, and the counter beside it is showing the number one.

I click on it, and another tan box greets me with four separate sections inside of it. Each have their own titles: Level, Skill, Attribute, and Reward. All of them are filled with small black boxes, each showing a white question mark, but underneath Reward, I can see three colorful icons. One is a cartoon version of me either praying or meditating, another is a cartoon arm flexing, and the third is a basic silhouette of a body with a blue glowing orb in the middle of the torso. A poke on each confirms what I'm thinking. These are the perks I currently have.

Curiously, I tap on one of the question mark boxes in the Reward column randomly. Another box full of question marks greets me. Well, that's _helpful_. A few taps on other mystery boxes prove to show similar messages.

With a roll of my eyes, I pan to the other fields. While Skills and Attributes are both filled with question marks, the Level section has three dimmed icons: One of them has a plus sign with the number one following it, another is a cartoon version of me holding a magnet with a huge smile on her face, and the last is a circle filled with a few symbols I can't make out. They still show color, but they're not as vibrant as the perks I know I currently have.

I poke at the first one.

 **Lagniappe  
** **Every level-up from now on provides one bonus attribute point.**

 **(Choose Perk) (Cancel)**

Oh… I hit cancel and move on to the next one.

 **Loot Magnet  
** **The Gamer's inventory automatically gathers items dropped by enemies within two meters of the Gamer.**

I check the last one.

 **Quick Menu  
** **A shortcut menu with ten slots that actively slows down time for a short period while in use.**

I think only for a few seconds before going back to the first and choosing it. It sounds like grabbing it as soon as possible would help me more than the others in the long run. While the other two do sound nice, having an extra attribute point per level just sounds like the best investment right now. With that taken care of, I went down to make dinner.

* * *

Practically hugging the door to my bedroom, I listen for the tell-tale noise of my dad's feet on our wooden floors for several minutes. Even knowing he went to bed an hour ago, I'm worried that the moment I try to make my move he'll catch me in the act.

I already checked my inventory to make sure I had anything I might need: a few flashlights, some medical supplies, and even some more food. I even grabbed a few things I could use as bindings just in case: a few thick shoelaces, some extra belts, and even four short extension cords. They weren't exactly… professional, but needs must. I didn't think about it while I was out of the house earlier, but I definitely will need to make time to go by a hardware store and pick up some thick zip ties later on.

There was some light snow on the ground tonight, but the temperature would only be in the low thirties. Given how long I would be out, I made sure to put some gloves on and wear one of my thicker hoodies. Just like last time, I had a thick scarf obscuring the lower part of my face.

I listen for a few more seconds before shaking my head. If I don't leave now, I might never will. With a near silent creak, I open my door, and slowly slink I reach the back door, I look around the best I can in the dark just to make sure Dad isn't somehow a few steps ahead of me. I sigh in relief when I don't see a hint of him and make my way out of the house as quietly as I can.

A few minutes later, I'm sprinting along toward my destination as my Egyptian self. Rather than practice an attribute tonight, I want to experiment with my mana more. Unfortunately, making energy explosives with my hands isn't something I can do in the house in secret. Which means I'd have to find a place to practice out of the house.

There are only a few places in the Bay that I could think of where I could practice loud and flashy powers. One of them is the local landfill, but it's across the city near the downtown outskirts, which is entirely impractical for me to reach in the middle of the night. The other two were closer: the Trainyard and the Boat Graveyard.

Out of the two, the Boat Graveyard is the better choice. If I tried to go directly from my house to either, I'd go through the heart of the Docks, which is ABB territory. That's not a good idea. Skirting along the edges to either location however… Well if I went northwest towards the Trainyard, I'd be stuck in between the ABB and the Merchants. The Merchants didn't exactly "hold" territory like the other gangs given their small size, but they certainly roamed around selling their product in that area of the city, whenever the ABB didn't frown in their general direction that is.

No, my best bet is to head directly east, make my way past the Boardwalk, and go north on the beach. I'd also want to stay off Lord Street as much as I could. Even this late at night, it would be one of the busier streets. Sure, it would make the trip longer overall, but Sprint needs some love and it would help even things out. Given my attire and the time, I'd have to avoid the late night patrols of the Enforcers as well, but that should be easy. There wouldn't be as many out and about as there are during day-time, and as long as I kept a wide berth of their more precious establishments I'd be fine.

I zoom down empty streets. I'm not sprinting as fast as I could, but once I reach the ocean, I hopefully could cut loose on the beach. No one should be out there in the middle of winter this late at night. The Enforcers themselves would be more focused on the streets near the shops than on the beach as well.

A few times I slow down to a jog whenever I see someone, but beyond a weird look here and there, none of them pay me much attention. None of them are a danger to me either. It's rather calming to be able to look at any stranger and know if they had any gang ties or not with a quick observe.

After making my way through different side streets, I use my map to guide myself towards the southern half of the Boardwalk. The dress shops, jewelers, and tech stores probably had the brunt of the Enforcers' attention this late at night, so the best idea I had was to cut past a few of the closed eateries.

I quickly pass Lord Street and near the boardwalk, making my way between an ice creamery and a bakery. I pop my head around the corner of one of the establishments, my eyes scanning both ways down the boardwalk proper. The way south is empty, and up north the only thing worth seeing is the shrinking back of an Enforcer walking away in the distance. With a short sigh, I slink across the wooden decks quietly, and hop over the wooden railing. My feet land on the rocky outcropping (Ow), and a few steps later they finally hit sand.

Empty and dark, the only light illuminating the beach is the faint and ever present blue glow of the Rig's force field across the water. Still, there's more than enough darkness hiding me, allowing me to go all out. Soon I was past the north-end of the Boardwalk. I didn't have to worry about the Enforcers until I came back this way.

While I was correct in thinking I could sprint all out on the deserted beach, I did hit a hiccup. Within what felt like no time, I ran into the old abandoned north ferry station. It was expected, but still annoying. With a sigh and the beach cut off, I slow down and make my way closer to the streets. At least I got another level in Sprint out of it, and another Unarmed Combat level for shadow-boxing while jogging. It's great to be productive. Once my feet left the sand and hit the concrete of the sidewalk, I made my way around the unused terminal. Once past it, I'd have some more beach to continue on for at least—

A yell of pain brings me to a halt and grabs my attention. Turning my head towards the noise, I see several rundown buildings with their lights on. Focusing, I now barely make out indistinct voices yelling and screaming. My eyes dart between them and towards the north. I wait for a box to appear. A quest to tell me to go save whoever from whatever.

But nothing pops up.

I frown. This is definitely in the middle of ABB territory. I… I could keep going. Things like this happen all the time. It's not like last time. I'm not right in the middle of it, and if there's no quest for it, the rewards won't be as good. I could just leave and forget about it…

Another pain filled cry sounds out, and I can't help but think of when I screamed in the locker, when no one came to help me. A bit of revulsion worms inside of me. What am _I doing_? I _want_ to be a hero. I don't want to be like them, like _her_. So, what do heroes do? _They help people._

I take a deep breath. This is probably a bad and stupid idea… but…

I dash towards the screaming, this time going full speed. It doesn't take me long to near the disturbance. As I get closer, I can start to hear the voices more clearly. I slow down to a walk so my steps don't catch their attention.

I hear an older man sobbing, barely gasping out words between cries. "Please! Stop!"

"Take your beating with dignity, you old fuck!" A younger man's voice yells out.

"Yeah! This is what you get for skimping out on us you piece of shit!" A girl this time states.

I reach a corner of a street, the sound of meaty thuds coming from around the bend. I put my back to the brick building and glance around the edge. In front of a store, there's four people. The man crying out in pain was on the ground. I could just barely make out the floating "Jonathan Lee" above his head. The two standing above him, Akari Ito and Kenichi Suzuhara, are currently stomping and kicking him. The fourth person…

 **(Yakuza Veteran)  
** **LV 10 Takaya Kiryu**

...is standing off to the side in the street, watching with an ugly smile.

I feel the need to just rush in there and save him, but… before that I shoot an Observe at each person, and read as quickly as I can. The Chinese shop owner is behind on his protection payments. He only had enough for half this month due to complications with his wife's knee surgery. It cost more than they planned… but at least she's still in the hospital and not here.

The two younger thugs above him are new ABB recruits. Dressed in an assortment of red and green, they've already went through their own initiations. This is just a part of their new duties as grunts. Sadly, they've cut off all connections to their families. The ABB is their only family now, which is apparently how the gang is organized, like a more inclusive Yakuza apparently. In fact…

I stare at the odd one out. He's actually their "older brother" here. Not quite a lieutenant due to not being in Lung's favor, but someone with enough authority to boss around the newer recruits. The main reason he's being this rough is because Jonathan's Chinese. Partial payments don't earn beatings this badly, and Tayaka knows it. Even with Lung forcing a united Asian bloc, it seems he can't enforce it everywhere at once. Sadly, Jonathan's still probably safer here than in E88 territory.

Takaya's dressed in a black suit with an obnoxious red and green dragon tie. His right hand is missing a finger and his body is covered in gang tattoos. With a Smith & Wesson nine-millimeter kept at his hip, he fits his title perfectly. Whatever I do, I'll need to bring him down first.

The suited gangster chuckles to himself. "Enough."

The two younger members immediately stop their assault and step away from their victim into the street. I focus on Mr. Lee. He has several bone fractures in his arms, legs, and ribs, internal bruising, a badly sprained ankle, moderate bleeding, and more. He's in bad shape and will need medical attention asap, but he's not on death's door. I need to do something now, but what? The main thug here doesn't have a knife. He has a _gun_ … What do I do?

The suit tsk-tsks while he walks closer to the still sobbing store owner. He crouches over him, and looks down with a face of fake sympathy. "Jonny, Jonny, Jonny… Why do you make us do this? You've had such a good streak going too! Six months without missing a payment." He whistles, his left hand dancing in the air above Jonathan. "Why you're the model example of how a chankoroshould act!I thought our last chat made it clear what would happen if you…" His finger descends and jabs sharply into one of the nastier bruises. Jonathan screams. "...missed a deadline." He grins like a shark. "Whoops! My hand slipped."

I'm best suited for close combat, but if he can get a clean shot at me, I'm dead. So, I have to take him out immediately.

"I… I…" Jonathan tries to speak his face still on the floor.

Takaya leans down with a hand cupping his ear. "What's that Jonny? You'll have to speak a little louder. For some reason, I can barely hear you!"

I could use my mana now. I could call it to my fingertips in a heartbeat… but now's not the time to experiment. Without trying to come up with a skill on the spot, all I have is Energy Bomb, and it isn't really an option I can use here. Even if I can throw or roll it, he's too close to the victim. If I can make one that will knock him out and somehow not kill him, it'll still exacerbate the victim's already horrible condition.

The old store owner manages to push himself up a little, and looks at the thug with a pleading expression. "I had the money! _I had it_! But..." He turns away and grits in pain.

"But what, Jonny? As much fun as I'm having, I'm pretty sure you're not getting off on this, so..." He rolls his wrist a few times, motioning for Jonathan to continue.

How far away are they? Over a dozen feet, maybe close to twenty. There's also nothing in between me and the gun-holder.

"The insurance…" He shakes his head. "Last week… My wife's knee replacement… The insurance didn't cover as much as I'd thought… and…"

"Your white bitch's knee? That's where _our_ money went? Where _Lung's_ money went?"

Jonathan winces. "I thought I…" He wheezes. "I had enough... left over to…"

I don't have a ranged option, but I do have Sprint. As long as I can pounce on him before he has his gun ready, I can win this.

"Well, you thought wrong Jonny." He pretends to ponder for a moment. "Since that money belonged to us in the first place, I guess _technically_ her new knee is ABB property. That's fair, right?" He glances at the second story of the shop, then turns and smiles down at Jonathan. "But she's at the hospital isn't she?"

Jonathan slowly but firmly nods.

At level eight of Sprint, I can run at thirty-eight and a half miles per hour. After a little rough math I nod to myself, then I tighten up my hood's laces and make sure my scarf's secure. Generally, I get up to a jog first before using the skill. Hopefully just using it out of the gate from standing still will let me get to him fast enough.

Takaya fakes disappointment. "Oh well." He stands up. "You know what… I'll let you off easy this time." He grins. "Instead of her knee, I think we'll take yours. It's only fair." He reaches for his gun.

I step out completely from the corner, and with the intent to go as fast as I can in the shortest amount of time possible, I shout "Sprint!" in my mind. Then my eyes widen as I feel myself _move._

Before he can even touch his pistol, I slam into him! Unable to stop myself, we both go flying down the sidewalk! My arms and chest feel like they're on fire, but before I can even scream, the pain vanishes. A red-colored and blinking negative sixty floats in front of my vision.

No longer distracted with my own body I barely hear the man under me screaming and the two younger thugs shouting in shock as the air rushes past us! Finally, he hits the ground with a sickening thud with me landing on top of him. Then both of us slide across the sidewalk. Again, I feel the painful impact, this time less intense, before a second passes and the pain is gone entirely. Another number appears, this time a negative twenty.

As soon as we stop, with me still above him, I push myself up, pull back a fist, and… stop as I realize he's already unconscious. I hear the rushing of feet at my back! I quickly grab the gun, stand up, turn around, and point it at the closest thug!

"Freeze!"

The girl, Akari, immediately obeys with her face pale. Kenichi behind her stops, his eyes wide.

A red symbol appears over Akari's chest. It's a small circle with four smaller lines intersecting it. I move the gun slightly, and so does the symbol. I glance over the pistol in my hand and also notice the floating script by it, similar to the way names appear over people's heads.

 **17/17**

Ammo counter? I guess the circle is some sort of target reticle. That's… one thing at a time. I focus back on the, currently freaking out, thugs. I can't help myself. "It's…" I stop. I just noticed the voice coming out of my Egyptian lips doesn't sound like me. That's interesting. "It's not so fun when it's you, isn't it? On the ground face down, hands behind your back." The two share a look, before slowly complying.

Alright, how do I keep them down while I tie—

A flash of blue light on the ground in front of me interrupts me. I glance down. A pile of money and a few magazines of ammo sit there. I glance back up at the thugs, the two staring at the pile of loot that's now at their eye level.

"What the fuck?" Akari mutters. She then looks up at me and whispers. "Oh shit… Cape…"

Kenichi near her scoffs. "The super flying tackle didn't light that bulb for you?"

"Oh fuck off Kenichi." She snarls.

He rolls his eyes. "Bakayarou."

"Kuso Kurae!"

"Excuse me!" Both look back to me, and then almost recoil from my glare. "Cape here with a gun. Both of you, _shut up._ " With the two cowed, I let out a soft sigh. I lean down and grab the money and magazines with one hand, while the other still points the gun at them. Instead of putting it into my inventory, I just shove it into my hoodie's big front pocket for now. It's best if I don't reveal everything I can do.

I step back a bit over the slumped body of the original gun holder, so he's in my line of sight. With the gun still pointed at the crooks, I give the knocked out gangster an Observe. I barely manage to hold back a cringe. I not only knocked him out, I broke a few of his ribs and gave him a nasty friction burn on his back and left arm. Nearly half of his HP is just _gone_. Thank god he was wearing a full suit, otherwise I'm sure I'd have accidentally left a smear of his skin on the sidewalk. He'll only be out for another seven minutes though, so I'll need to work fast.

I focus back on the two younger crooks. They do know I'm a brute or mover of some kind. Why not abuse that? Even with my lips covered by a scarf, I do my best to give them the sweetest fake smile I can muster. "Alright, I'm about to tie both of you up, and then…" I lightly poke the crumpled form in front of me with my foot. "...your boss here. I can't possibly point the gun at both of you while I'm doing that. So, the way I see it, you both have three options when I'm no longer pointing this at you. One and two, you could try to fight or run away from me, which will end the same exact way. I will knock you out in a split second just like I did with your boss. This will involve breaking some bones _at a minimum_." I let that sink in for a moment. " _Or_ three,you two could save yourself the hospital trip, and stay still, letting me tie you up. Either way, you're going to jail. That's non-negotiable. It's just one way is going to be a lot more... _uncomfortable_. So, which will it be? One, two, or _three_?"

* * *

Nearing the Boat Graveyard, I barely make out the sounds of sirens behind me in the distance. I left the three goons tied up with what I had on me, checked on Mr. Lee, and called for an ambulance and the cops using his landline.

Any chance for there being any ambiguity about a cape being involved was gone the moment I jumped the older thug, but I don't regret it. He was about to shoot a guy's knee off. I'm glad I stopped him. The fact I'm not using my own face under my pathetic disguise helps a bit too. As an added precaution, I also swapped to a different set of clothing.

On that note, Sprinting. It acted differently than I'm used to. Sprinting apparently doesn't care about pesky things like inertia. If I want to go as fast as I possibly can in any direction, apparently I just need to scream Sprint in my head with that intent and my body will just launch itself much faster than my legs have any right to propel me from a stand still. I may have not went to my full speed instantly, but it was close. I mean, it's really cool, but I kind of wish I knew it worked like that _before_ I became a human missile tonight. I'm not sure how fast I was going when I hit that guy, but when I get faster from Sprint leveling up, I could kill someone if I'm not careful…

Far enough away from the incident, I take time to focus on the several reward screens that had popped up after I finished tying up the baddies.

 **For unconventional tactics, your intelligence has increased by 1!**

Ha.

 **A skill has been created through a special action!**

 **Through enduring pain and physical injury, a skill to increase the body's durability, "Physical Endurance," has been created!**

Quickly, I check in my menu the details of that skill.

 **[Physical Endurance (Passive) Lv 1 EXP 00.00%]  
A skill using the body's tolerance to pain and injury  
to increase the Gamer's durability.  
** **1 % decrease in damage from all physical attacks.**

Wow. Wait, does this mean if I level this to one hundred I'll be completely _invulnerable_? And, what exactly constitutes a physical attack? Aren't all attacks physical? What even is a "non-physical" attack? I.. Ugh. Today's mana training, I'll worry about this skill when I do more vitality training later.

 **A skill has been created through a special action!**

 **Through enforcing your will by a threat of pain and suffering, a skill to convince others to do what you say, "Intimidation," has been created!**

I wince. It sounds like Taunt, but just a little more brutal. I'll look at the specifics later...

 **A skin has been unlocked through a special action!**

 **For stopping a racially motivated hate crime, you've unlocked the "Han Chinese Taylor" skin!**

Oh! Immediately, I open up my menu and check out the new skin. Chinese me has paler skin than even normal me, has slightly larger eyes of a more hazel color, and has dark brown hair. Oddly enough, the hair is cut shorter. It's only neck-length, compared to the longer locks of my normal and Egyptian self. I frown. I swear, both Egyptian and Chinese me are prettier than how I normally look. Then again, it's not that hard to look prettier than a human frog, abs or no…

I swallow my annoyance, and I swap over to it. In a disorienting flash, the world around me seems taller. Huh. I'm shorter. Just a few inches, but that's… that's new. It's probably best if I carry on like this. Now that I have two skins that aren't me physically, I can swap around with them for an extra layer of security.

 **Achievement Progress: The Great Taylor Melting Pot. 2/10**

 **Achievement Progress: They wanted trouble. 3/100**

 **Your "Knot-Tying" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Your "First Aid" skill has increased by 1!**

 **Your level has increased by 1!**

Sweet! What's my Status like now?

 **Name: Taylor Hebert  
** **Class: The Gamer  
** **Title: N/A**

 **Level: 4 EXP: 86.96%**

 **HP: 760/760  
** **MP: 960/960**

 **Strength: 19  
** **Vitality: 14  
** **Dexterity: 17  
** **Intelligence: 19  
** **Wisdom: 12  
** **Luck: 2**

 **Attribute Points: 21  
** **Money: $299.30**

Wow, my numbers got quite a bit bigger. I'm almost tempted to spend at least eight points into Luck, but… I've already got plans to raise it during game night this weekend, so I'll wait.

Most of that money is from tonight. Two hundred from the Yakuza dude, and twenty-five bucks each after I tied up the other two goons. I frown. I also got several magazines for a gun. A gun that I technically stole. I'll figure out what to do with that later. The same with the Nazi's knife. Maybe after I actually can go public with a cape identity proper, I can turn it into the PRT?

As I enter the graveyard proper, I realize it's really dark. There aren't any lights out here. Of course, why would the city waste electricity on a portion of the old docks no one uses anymore? Rather than use one of my flashlights for paranoia's sake, I just wait for my eyes to adjust to the dark. When I can see a bit better, I note I'm surrounded by gigantic abandoned cargo cranes, the rusted metal of old containers, packs of snow, and icy fog. I scan amongst the old hulks of what used to be ships for the best place to train. I'll need an enclosed space that can hide away the light I'll be creating from my mana, but someplace that's roomy enough to actually let me practice without blowing myself up. Luckily there are dozens of vessels here: tankers and other assorted cargo vessels. Any one of those would be perfect.

Picking one that was amazingly both in its dock and intact, I made my way to where a boarding platform connected to the cargo ship's deck. Compared to most of the other rusted skeletal wrecks, it was in rather remarkable good condition. Even seaworthy going by my Observe, despite the sheets of metal stripped off its hull by scavengers over the years.

Curious, I walk towards the end of the dock to see why this boat was left. Before I even reach the end, I can see another rusted hulk, a much larger cargo container ship, that was partially sunk right outside of my choice's docking. Yeah, figures.

As I turned around, I couldn't help but notice how quiet it was. The only noises near me were the lazy waves of the ocean, and the unsettling creaking and groaning of the shifting ships. The sirens in the distance were at most whispers, for the mere moments I could hear them at all. It was the perfect setting for a horror novel all in all. Kind of surreal considering how close it is to Dad's job.

Before long, I was on the deck of the ship I picked, my shoes crunching atop the few inches of snow above the metal flooring. The door to the innards of the vessel was already open. Given the amount of snow inside, it's been like this for a while so I shouldn't have to worry about anyone actually being here. Maybe during the spring or fall it would be a larger concern, but it's too cold as it is. It may be in the thirties tonight, but it could easily get worse depending upon the cold fronts moving in. The different shipping companies' abandoned warehouses likely are better picks for the homeless in this part of the city anyways.

I made my way down into the pitch black depths of the ship. Once I was a good distance in, I grab a flashlight from my inventory and use it to look around. At least here, I didn't have to worry about someone seeing it. It took some time exploring the vessel, but I soon found what I was looking for: an empty cargo hold. The hatch door acting as a roof is closed, and likely covered in snow. This is the perfect place for me to practice.

The first thing I need to do is work out how Energy Bomb works. If I can figure out what the difference between stable and unstable mana is, I'm sure I'll be able to find different ways I can use it… hopefully without blowing myself up again. I put my flashlight away, the room is instantly blanketed in darkness. I open up my menu, its light the only thing I can see. I bring up a hand… and notice it as only a dark blob… despite how bright my boxes are, nothing but they are illuminated. That's… that's really weird. I shake my head and take a look at the specifics of the skill.

 **[Energy Bomb (active) Lv 1 EXP 00.00%]  
** **A skill using unstable mana to create a magical explosive.  
** **With more mastery, more powerful and diverse types of  
bombs can be created. Intelligence increases Damage and  
Max Charge.**

 **Damage: 11 per 1 MP  
** **Maximum Charge: 63 MP  
** **Charge Rate: 1 MP per sec**

Okay. I'm not sure how I can customize it right now, but that's interesting. So, a minute of charging gives me a bomb that can cause six-hundred and ninety three damage. That's definitely lethal. If I throw it after just charging for a few seconds, that's… a blip. In order to really use it, I would just need to get to the sweet spot of knocking someone out rather than outright killing them… but that charge time. I don't think I can just stand in the middle of a fight and charge an attack like that without getting killed. I could just use a small bomb as a close-ranged distraction. A small bomb going off near someone's face would still be somewhat effective.

...I should know.

Energy Bomb.

Mana surges from my battery to my left hand, a blue glowing orb coming to life there, the only light within the room now. This time I don't cut the connection from my battery, and just hold it. The orb doesn't pulse nor change in size, which means that the connection keeps it from exploding. I push more mana into it, and the ball grows a bit larger. I pull mana from it, and the ball shrinks. I pull all of the mana from it, and the ball simply winks out of existence.

So, I don't have to commit if I don't want to, but… I practice pushing mana into a ball for a few seconds, and then pull it back into my battery. The charge rate works both ways. The larger the bomb I make, the more time I'd have to spend disarming it if I don't want it going off. I could even use them as an improvised torch…

Hmm. I make another, and only charge it for a couple seconds. When it's golf-ball sized, I cut its connection. The glowing ball of azure energy again starts to distort, shifting in size. This time, instead of looking on with my eyes gobsmacked, I focus on feeling it. Even without it connected to my battery, I can still feel it as a part of me. Like the energy inside me, the mana in the ball swirls and swishes, but it's violent. It's less like a stream and more like a maelstrom, and it's getting worse. That's only the energy in the very center of the sphere. The outside portions are more calm, but as the ball shifts and bulges, those parts start to act like the center.

Not wanting to repeat what happened last time, I grip down on the orb and chuck it at the far side of the cargo bay. The ball leaves my hand… but doesn't arc or fall. It simply flies straight forward the moment it left my hand, ignoring gravity completely. It bounces off the far wall, then starts to slow, and then finally stops in mid-air. A few seconds later, when the chaotic swirls reach the outermost layer, it explodes in a burst of light and smoke. I wince at the noise the explosion makes echoing through the hulk. Can't do too much about that, but as long as I don't let loose a fully charged bomb, I should be fine about not attracting unwanted attention from outside of the graveyard.

Okay, now why did it ignore gravity? Is it just a natural thing about my mana or…? I throw another one, and this time I try to control it, trying to move it so the bomb falls to the ground. But it doesn't work. The mana inside me is easy to move, but now that the ball's not connected to me, it feels… sluggish. Every time I try to force it down, up, left, or right I feel a tingling sensation, the same I get from a sleeping limb. Eventually, it explodes and the feeling disappears with it.

Hmm, I throw out another one, and once it's a good distance I try to change it. Instead of trying to make it move, I try to make the mana inside the ball act like a maelstrom rather than a stream. It takes a few seconds to force the mana into that chaotic swirl, but once I'm done, almost immediately the ball blows up. With a smile, I shoot out another and try the opposite. Again, after a few seconds of focus, the ball simply stops it's warping and remains calm like when they're in my hand. I stop controlling the mana and it starts to distort again. Eventually it explodes like normal.

So, I can control when my bombs detonate and can even keep them from going off by messing with how the mana moves in each bomb. Alright. Can I do that with multiple bombs at once? If I throw out a few at a time and had control over all of them… that'd give me quite a few options.

I place my hands palm up in front of me and focus as I try to move mana to both of my hands at the same time. It's… not easy. Not at all. Moving two streams of Mana inside me is… it's like trying to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time when you've only just learned how to move your arms. In the process, I lose focus on one stream and the mana I'm no longer controlling surges immediately from one arm to the other. I try again, but this time both streams of energy just slam back into my battery when my concentration slips entirely.

I take a deep breath, roll up my sleeves, and close my eyes. I ignore my body and focus entirely on moving my mana. Instead of the normal rush of willing my Mana as a single entity here and there, I slowly just push two streams of mana to both of my hands. What normally happens in a near instant, I painfully extend into two minutes of slow and agonizing progress.

Eventually I manage to get a good bit of mana in both arms, and I can _almost_ get them to my hands. My head feels like its in a vice from how hard I'm focusing, but luckily there's no pain. However right when I get the mana into my hands, I'm stuck.

I can _feel_ the gathered mana in my hands, but there's this _resistance_ when I try to gather it outside of my body into a bomb. If I lose my concentration on keeping the mana where it is, I'll have to start all over again, but for some reason, the mana itself won't manifest into my hands from the slow pushing I'm exerting on it.

I grit my teeth in frustration, and simply start piling more and more mana into the blockages in my hands. Unfortunately, instead of this forcing the mana out of me like squeezing the back of a full toothpaste tube like I hoped, the mana just starts to compress on itself getting denser and heavier. Eventually once I reach my limit, I lose all patience and simply _fucking_ push the bastards with all my mind. My concentration on both hands suddenly slips in the effort. Immediately the resistance vanishes and the vice on my head is lifted. The mana in my left hand disperses back into my battery near instantly while a _bolt_ of blue energy blasts out of my right hand slamming into the ceiling! The projectile explodes into a flash of light and smoke, the noise reverberating throughout the cargo hold, while the recoil makes me fall on my butt.

A blue box pops in front of me. I read it as I stand back up.

 **A skill has been created through a special action!**

 **Through practicing the use of pressurized mana, a skill to create magic projectiles, "Energy Bolt", has been created!**

 **[Energy Bolt (active) Lv 1 EXP 00.00%]  
** **A skill using pressurized mana to create a magical  
** **projectile. With more mastery, more powerful  
** **and diverse types of projectiles can be created.  
** **Intelligence increases damage.**

 **Damage: 69  
** **Cost: 50 MP**

Huh. Okay… Not what I was going for, but I'll take it! The excitement wears off and my exuberant smile slips into a pout. Why can't I do two things with my Mana at the same time? Is there something I'm not doing right? I sigh. Maybe I can work on it while meditating? For now, I'll table that. For now…

I grin and point my hand at the far wall. Energy Bolt! I brace my firing hand's wrist as another blast of blue energy leaves my body and slams into the far wall.

"I've got a Blaster power. I've got a _Blaster_ power!" I laugh. Okay, maybe the Energy Bomb counts as a Blaster power as well, _but_ … it's like the difference between Flashbang and Laserdream. When you think Blaster, you think laser beams not energy grenades…

Wait, wait, wait... my Energy Bombs are _really_ similar to Flashbang's orbs on a glance, aren't they? I look at my hand. Could I make my Energy Bombs act more like actual flash bangs rather than a normal explosive? It said I could customize it eventually, right? If I could modify that… where does it end? Could I also turn my Energy Bolt into an Energy Beam? Why not use my Mana as a shield? Or even try to make an Energy Weapons skill to emulate Brandish?

An old dream suddenly came to mind. One so fantastic that I almost dismiss it. If my mana could emulate most of the powers of New Wave… maybe I could even use it to fly?

 **Quest Alert:  
The Mirror of your Dreams  
**Learn how to fly and make your fantasy reality.

 **Time limit:** N/A  
 **Reward: +** 10,000 EXP, +10 Dexterity, +10 Luck  
 **Failure Penalty** : Never realizing your dream.

...I can learn how to fly?

…

I can learn how to fly.

...

 _I can learn how to fly!_

I close out the window with a smile on my face… and frown as I notice the room being illuminated by an orange glow. I'm not alone anymore.

I quickly turn around and see a girl staring at me near the entrance of the cargo bay, dressed in rags and her hand on _fire_.

 **(Homeless Cape)  
LV 8 Emily Dawson/Spitfire**

She takes a stuttering step back, her eyes wide and fearful through the faded ribbon she's using as an impromptu mask. Then she turns and runs.

* * *

AN: "I aim to release a chapter every two weeks!" - Me, exactly a year ago.

Yeah… sorry for the delay. Life just… well Life. First it was the holidays, then it was Kingdom Hearts 3 (of course), then my first D&D 5th edition campaign, and… then the sucker punch. My Grandmother's health declined.

So, we flew out to Texas last spring, and got to visit her. Her condition worsened while we were there. I got to say goodbye to her, and was in the room when she stopped breathing on the second day of our visit.

Dealing with that… I wasn't really in the mood to write. At all. She was my last living grandparent, and it just hit hard. Well, hopefully I can get back into the saddle now that I'm mostly recovered from that, but I will be writing a Chapter in her memory in the future. I've already started on it, but it's chronologically going to be later on.

So, again, I'm sorry for the wait.

Also, if anyone would like to assist as a beta, please PM me. My previous crew are really busy with schooling and whatnot, so having more people available to preview and edit the chapters with me on the discord will help me a lot. As such, this chapter did not go through the normal process that few previous chapters did, so if there are any mistakes or things that you think should be fixed let me know.


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